Drug users in the Philadelphia neighbourhood of Kensington have increasingly been turning towards a drug called xylazine, or “tranq”, a veterinary sedative often mixed with other drugs such as heroin or fentanyl. But when people begin to use the substance, it quickly causes horrific damage to their bodies – including necrosis and skin tissue rotting. Authorities in Philadephia and across the nation are getting increasingly worried about the drug's spread and the damage to victims.
The footage widely shared on both TikTok and Twitter (examples here, here and here) show people in frightening states – men and women, doubled over, seemingly sleeping standing up. People with their limbs wrapped in bandages. People shaking and jerking uncontrollably or, in other cases, lying on the ground, inert.
