A new dangerous drug called xylazine or “tranq” and “tranq dope” is being increasingly cut into common rave drugs, but there is finally a test kit available to identify the presence of the substance.
Xylazine is a sedative, anesthetic, tranquilizer, muscle relaxant, and, much like the common rave drug ketamine, is used by veterinarians to sedate horses and cattle. But unlike Ketamine, overdose can—and often does—result in death.
Not only can it slow a person’s breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels, it can also cause skin lesions, skin ulcers, and necrosis (the rotting of skin).
This dangerous sedative is now being cut into street drugs like cocaine, MDMA, and heroin all across the country. Xylazine has been found in 48 of the 50 states and in high amounts on the East Coast. In Philadelphia, around one-third of drug overdose deaths involved xylazine, according to NPR statistics. “90% of all drugs seized in the city since 2021 contained traces of it.”
But the test kit for the substance has been found to be 91% accurate in testing and gives results in just five minutes. Kits will be distributed by BTNX at around $200 a box.
Test strips will be available wherever fentanyl test strips are found and will be distributed locally to public health workers, health departments, and harm-reduction groups at local levels.
Check out the video below to find out why xylazine is so dangerous and why it’s important to test for the substance (be advised of graphic content):
