Drug Use, Harm Reduction, and YouTube Hyperventilators counterpunch.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from counterpunch.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Zombie Drug Arrives in West Virginia wvmetronews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wvmetronews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The arrival of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, in the drug supply in Kensington has created new complications that are burdening an already overtaxed system. The drug leaves users with unhealing necrotic ulcers, and does not respond well to naloxone, the opioid antidote. And because "tranq dope" wanes after a few hours, users often won't sit long enough in the ER to get appropriate treatment for their wounds and substance abuse.
The veterinary tranquilizer xylazine, the choice du jour of local drug dealers to cut fentanyl, leads to necrotic ulcers and leaves street medics and physicians confused about how best to deal with this wave of the opioid crisis.
Many people living on the streets in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast are in full-blown addiction, openly snorting, smoking, or injecting illicit drugs, hunched over crates or on stoops. Syringes litter sidewalks, and the stench of urine fouls the air.