ST. GEORGE — The opioid crisis now faces a deadlier outcome, as the rise of xylazine detected in fentanyl increases across the country — including in Utah and Nevada.
According to a statement issued by the Southern Nevada Health District, xylazine was found in recent samples taken from drug paraphernalia during a community surveillance program in Clark County. While xylazine use has not been widely reported in Nevada, there were three overdose deaths in the state last year — up from a single death in 2022.
Xylazine also has been detected in Southern Utah.
St. George Police Lt. Johnny Heppler told St. George News that officers have seen an increase in cutting agents such as xylazine in some of the lab test results of seized fentanyl.
And fentanyl use holds a deadlier risk when cut with xylazine.
In a report released earlier this month by the Drug Enforcement Administration, administrator Anne Milgram said, “Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”
Xylazine is for use by veterinarians to sedate large animals such as horses and cattle, but it is not safe for use in humans. The drug acts as a central nervous system depressant that can cause drowsiness, amnesia and slowed breathing and heart rate. The drug can cause blood pressure to drop to dangerously low levels and can result in death.
The substance typically comes from countries like China and India and is illicitly used by drug traffickers as an inexpensive cutting agent in opioids like fentanyl as a means to extend a user’s high, according to a DEA report.
Repeated use has been linked to skin ulcers, abscesses and amputations, as shown in the photo included in this report.
The DEA report outlined another health challenge the use of xylazine presents: xylazine has no approved antidote for human use. Since it is not an opioid, medications used to reverse its effects, like Narcan, are rendered ineffective, Heppler said.
“It does cause us concern due to the fact it can render naloxone less effective in reversing opioid overdose,” Heppler said. “Which can lead to more serious injury or death.”
Detectives in Washington City said they have not received any reports of fentanyl mixed with xylazine yet. But the drug has been a topic of discussion, as it’s only a matter of time before it makes an appearance in the community, Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News.
The DEA report found that seizures of fentanyl, in both powder and pill form, are at record levels and have doubled over the past two years, and nearly one-third of those fentanyl seizures contained xylazine — a 25% increase from the previous year.
To put this into context: In 2010, there were 63 reports of xylazine. Fourteen years later that number has risen to more than 11,700 reports of the substance being detected in the U.S. drug supply.
Fentanyl seizures by the Utah Highway Patrol tripled between 2021 to 2022, with more than 670,000 synthetic pills seized in 2022 alone, according to a Utah Drug Initiative report, which also described xylazine as “an emerging threat” across the state.
Because xylazine is often found in substance mixtures containing fentanyl, officials say it is important to take extra caution in the case of an overdose. In addition to Narcan, 911 should be called for further medical evaluation.
For more information on xylazine visit the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
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