Free Republic

Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved over the years when naloxone — commonly known as Narcan — is administered to someone overdosing on opioids. Drugs Illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl can be mixed with xylazine, either to enhance drug effects or increase street value by increasing their weight. sedative/tranquilizer called xylazine to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids. And that’s bad news for addicts because naloxone doesn’t reverse a xylazine overdose. National Center for Biotechnology Information “You overdose on xylazine, and you’re going to die,” said the commander of the Greater Harrison Drug & Violent Crimes...

After a year-long investigation, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Monday announced it had busted a fentanyl distribution organization that was mixing a dangerous animal tranquilizer into the drugs it was selling. The animal tranquilizer, xylazine, is known to cause wounds at injection sites that destroy flesh and can lead to the amputation of limbs. Because it is a sedative and not a narcotic, users who overdose on drugs mixed with the drug might not be revived by treatments like Narcan, said sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant. Operation Empire was carried out by the Volusia Bureau of Investigation and East Volusia...

As U.S. law enforcement struggles to develop effective screening methods for fentanyl, a federal narcotics official last week warned against the rise of carfentanil, a large-animal tranquilizer that is considered about 50 times stronger. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is regarded as anywhere from 10 to 100 times stronger than the most commonly used opiate, morphine. Carfentanil, also a synthetic opioid, is used to sedate elephants and is considered about 50 times stronger than fentanyl.