Flesh-Eating Zombie Drug Can Lead to Rotting Skin, Amputation, Death [STUDY]

Xylazine is also called a "zombie drug" because it can reportedly zombify the person who uses it.

Deaths Related to Zombie Drug Has Increased

In a series of tweets, the New Hampshire Department of Safety announced that they have been working with emergency responders, members of law enforcement, nonprofits, and their partners in State government to raise awareness about the danger of xylazine, known as "tranq." Newsweek added that it is also called "tranq dope" or "zombie drug."

The department added that xylazine is a sedative only approved in the U.S. for veterinary use. However, it is being found mixed with fentanyl. The New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory estimated xylazine was present in 18% of 2,061 fentanyl samples tested in 2022. In December, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) HQ stated that xylazine-overdose deaths have increased by 103% in the Northeast and doubled from 2020 to 2021.

DEA said it was the highest increase of xylazine-positive fatal overdoses in the country.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Public Information Office has issued a health alert to healthcare providers announcing that no antidote or reversal agent is available for use in humans and naloxone will likely be ineffective against isolated xylazine toxicity. Instead, naloxone should only be administered for suspected opioid-related overdoses, especially overdose-related respiratory depression, and repeated naloxone administration might be necessary for highly potent opioid exposures.

What Is Xylazine?

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is a non-opioid tranquilizer and is not approved for human use. However, it has been illicitly combined with other drugs like fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin, as reported by the DEA.

Newsweek added that a central nervous system sedative causes drowsiness, amnesia, slow breathing, decreased heart rate, and reduced blood pressure.

It can be snorted, injected, or smoked. If injected, it can cause raw wounds near the area where it is injected. The damages can become severe and will spread rapidly with repeated exposure.

It will result in crusty skin ulceration, and if left untreated, the wound may lead to dead skin called eschar and become necrotic, resulting in the need for amputation.

What Did Zombie Drug Users Say About It?

One user from Philadelphia said she developed ulcerous wounds near the area where the drug was injected. Tracey McCann told The New York Times that she would wake up crying in the morning because she felt her arms were dying.

Fortunately for McCann, she recovered. She's in her fifth month of sobriety, and her wounds have healed, but there are still visible pink and purple scars. Despite the scars, McCann finds her arms very beautiful compared to when she endured the tranq wounds.

Another user developed a similar wound. Sam, 28, told Sky News that tranq is "zombifying people's bodies." She said she never had wounds until nine months ago and was left with holes in her legs and feet.

Brooke Peder, a 38-year-old tattoo artist, had her leg amputated after an infection from a tranq wound that bore into the bone. She told NY Times that tranq dope "literally eats your flesh." She added that the zombie drug is a "self-destruction at its finest."

Kim Barauskas, 53, accidentally injected tranq into an artery and said her hands felt like they had been dipped in acid. Her fingertips may need to be amputated.

Even the doctors were perplexed at how xylazine causes extremely severe wounds resembling chemical burns.

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