SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first cases of xylazine, the so-called "zombie drug," are being detected all across the country from Florida to California.
"A very potent and very deadly drug to get their hands on and a very small amount can do very great harm to many people," an undercover detective told ABC10.
Found in pills, powder and needles, xylazine — a horse tranquilizer known as "tranq" — is the new deadly drug.
Similar to how fentanyl is sometimes used to cut other narcotics, xylazine is being used to cut fentanyl — creating a deadly and concerning new type of drug.
Xylazine is nicknamed "tranq" because of the zombie-like effects it gives users, eating them alive.
"Mainly what we're seeing as the side effects include basically very bad lesions to the skin that will lead to amputations later down the road and that's something that we have not seen with any other drug that we've come across," said the detective.
Butte County found it by testing people in their rehabilitation program. One case was found in June and two in July. Since the ability to test just became available to them in April, there's most likely more undocumented cases out there.
Both Butte County and the Sacramento County District Attorney's crime lab are predicting tranq will become more prevalent.
"We are just now starting to see it we have a handful of cases," said Kristel Suchland, supervising criminalist drug section.
According to officials, the West Coast follows East Coast trends.
"90% of their street drug supply is contaminated with xylazine so it's just progressively marched across and now it's here in California,” said Scott Kennelly from Butte County Behavioral Health.
"I hope that we can put an end to it and maybe hope that we can find out what works when people overdose so we can help them more because right now when they overdose, we can't help them, we can't Narcan them,” said Jamie Keller, peer support. “I guess we just got to figure out a way to fight it."
A widespread threat with no cure if someone OD’s.
"Narcan does not help it only helps with opioids,” said Suchland.
Currently, there is no medication to bring someone back from xylazine or a "zombie drug" overdose.
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