Flesh-eating ‘Tranq’ drug leads to 150 ODs, 9 deaths in opioid-ravaged Florida county
Flesh-rotting fentanyl laced with the animal sedative known as “Tranq” has flooded opioid-ravaged portions of a Florida county, leading to 150 overdoses and nine fatalities over the last 18 months alone, officials said.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said a shocking 80% of fentanyl seized during a recent takedown contained Xylazine, a powerful narcotic used to sedate animals during veterinary surgeries.
In addition to eating away at flesh near the user’s injection site, Tranq is known for leaving fentanyl addicts hunched over in a “zombie”-like stupor.
The drug’s growing prevalence has laid waste to junkie-populated neighborhoods from Philadelphia to San Francisco, spurring law enforcement agencies across the country to sound the alarm.
Mina called Tranq an “emerging public health threat” at a press conference Tuesday, warning that overdose victims do not respond to emergency treatments.
“Perhaps the scariest thing about Xylazine and its prevalence in street drugs here and throughout the country is that it is not receptive to Narcan,” Mina said, adding that the drug has been directly linked to three fatalities in his county this year so far.
In addition to tissue rot, Tranq causes low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and a dangerously slowed heart rate, he stressed.
Doctors have warned that flesh loss often leads to amputations.
Capt. Darryl Blanford said his department recently broke up a fentanyl distribution ring that left portions of south Orange County awash in Xylazine-laced fentanyl.
The operation led to more than a dozen arrests, including alleged ringleader Jazzmeen Montanez, who faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Blanford said undercover agents eventually traced the origin of the fentanyl to a supplier in New Jersey, and that police intercepted a drug mule transporting a half-kilogram through Volusia County.
“The drugs were targeting areas that already had a massive problem” with opioids, Blanford said.
The department highlighted that the use of Tranq in fentanyl has exploded over the past five years, and has become the norm.
“You can see that it’s accelerating at an extremely fast pace,” he said.
Profit-hungry fentanyl producers are using Tranq because it extends a user’s high and keeps them coming back for more despite the risks, according to Blanford.
Whereas Xylazine can be purchased from China for $100 a kilogram, fentanyl costs $50,000 for the same amount, he said. Cutting the pure product with Tranq, he said, boosts dealer profits.
A kilo of fentanyl, he said, can produce up to 15,000 individual doses when cut with Xylazine and other substances.
“That’s the volume of the product that’s being kicked out onto your streets right now,” he said.
While it is readily available from China, Blanford said he suspected that some veterinarians are likely selling Xylazine for illicit purposes.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram previously warned that Tranq could present a historic public health threat.
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” she said.
