Senate targets ‘zombie drug’ with vote on xylazine research
Emily Jacobs
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The Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation late Thursday aimed at helping combat the emergence of xylazine, an animal tranquilizer tied to rising drug overdose deaths in recent months.
Multiple federal and state agencies have issued warnings this year about xylazine, referred to colloquially as “Tranq,” being mixed with fentanyl, a man-made drug so strong that a few grains of powder could induce a coma. Fentanyl was a driving force behind the record-high 100,000 overdose deaths last year.
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The TRANQ Research Act, led by Sens. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to “support research and other activities related to identifying xylazine, novel synthetic opioids, and other emerging substances that have become increasingly common in the illicit drug supply” in Vermont, Texas, and other states.
“The drug supply in Vermont and across the country has become more potent and less predictable, and it’s worsening an already brutal overdose crisis,” Welch said in a statement on the act’s passage. “This bill will support vital research to combat new substances in the drug supply and help confront the overdose crisis head-on.”
“I am pleased that the Senate has passed this commonsense, bipartisan legislation to improve our ability to detect a truly horrifying drug that is killing Texans,” Cruz’s statement read. “Since Tranq is not an opioid, it poses a unique threat, rendering medications commonly used to reverse opioid overdoses completely ineffective.”
The bill passed the House 425-0 in May and will now head to President Joe Biden’s desk.
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Xylazine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for veterinary use but not for human consumption. It is not clear what led to the increased use of the drug in mixtures that have led to overdoses. The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy designated fentanyl combined with xylazine, dubbed a “zombie drug” for its effect on humans, as an emerging threat in mid-April.
“As a physician, I am deeply troubled about the devastating impact of the fentanyl-xylazine combination … I am immensely concerned about what this threat means for the nation,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, who leads the office, said at the time. “By declaring xylazine combined with fentanyl as an emerging threat, we are being proactive in our approach to save lives and creating new tools for public health and public safety officials and communities across the nation.”