LOS ANGELES — It was at least four years ago that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials say they began finding signs of a dangerous sedative infiltrating the local drug supply.
At the time, the presence of xylazine — an animal tranquilizer — was not well-known to the public, though it has since become increasingly common, especially on the East Coast. The powerful sedative, also known as “tranq,” has been linked to deaths across the country and can cause human tissue to rot, leaving users with grisly wounds that sometimes lead to amputations.
But because, despite its harms, the drug is not a controlled substance, the Sheriff Department’s crime lab did not conduct further testing to confirm the results and did not alert the public.
