Is ‘tranq’ turning users into ‘living zombies?’ | NewsNation High

Meanwhile the fentanyl epidemic has tightened its grip on addicts now opioids mixed with a growing threat that is turning people into what some are calling living zombies in Philadelphia zombie-like addicts their slumped bodies covered with sores literally causing their limbs to rot it is all caused by an animal tranquilizer that's being.

Mixed with opioids it's called xylazine the street name for this is tranq it can be deadly and Narcan is not effective against it joining us now Community Health Services advisor Kevin Dahlgren Kevin thank you so much for being here thanks for having me so this zombie drug is estimated to be a 90 of street drugs in Philly at this point it has already.

Been found in other big cities like New York how soon do you think it will be that this is going to take over illegal street drugs across the country um that's a very good question I will say I spoke with my colleague in San Francisco yesterday and he said there's already four confirmed deaths so it is actually reaching the West Coast uh.

Trank we've heard about for a long time on the East Coast but it's uh relatively a new phenomenon on the west coast but it makes complete sense because uh for example fentanyl while it's highly addictive people build a tolerance towards it and when you build a tolerance you need to find stuff to add to it to make it last longer and be.

Stronger and so that's why trank was introduced to this and of course the question is where does this end the risk of death is present at worst or losing a limb and being riddled with sores at best is not stopping people what will it take to change what's happening right now that's a excellent question because.

Um these addicts won't be aren't unable to help themselves they've lost uh critical thinking and rati onal thought it is up to us as a community to go out in onto the streets be assertive and help these individuals right and that means change in our Outreach approach stop waiting for them to come to us stop waiting for them to ask for help which.

By the way is at least on the West Coast United States the role you have to wait for them to ask for help well guess what they're not going to we need to go to them and tell them tell them to their face this is killing you and then having the services available help them which means detox recovery residential uh and then eventually uh shelter and permanent.

Housing and this was something that is supposed to be a sedative used for large mammals cattle horses it's not even meant to be used in human beings can you explain to US based on what you're seeing what is worse at this point Fenton opioids is it tranq is it xylazine is that even a fair question is this only.

Making a terrible situation even worse it's making a terrible situation even worse uh the worst thing I've ever seen is definitely the combination of tranq and Fentanyl fentanyl I've been a drug and alcohol counselor for many years I've been doing Street Homeless Outreach for 28 years and this is the worst drug I've ever seen and of course somehow.

They made it worse they made something that lasts longer and is stronger one thing that's terrifying that my uh colleague Tom in San Francisco told me is tranq can potentially knock you out for eight hours but fentanyl can oftentimes wear off after two hours which means you uh go through withdrawal symptoms but.

You're going through withdrawal while being uh knocked out or unconscious which then puts you at higher risk of Overdose and death so people may not even know that you're in need of something like Narcan to um help you recover Kevin Dahlgren it is a grim situation we do appreciate you joining us and.

Appreciate the work that you do thank you thank you thank you for watching go to newsnationnow.com to find news Nation on your television provider and don't forget to click the red subscribe button below to get more of news Nations fact-driven unbiased coverage

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