Key takeaways
- Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that goes by the street name tranq and is a common additive to illicit drugs like fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine.
- Those who repeatedly use drugs containing xylazine can develop open wounds with dead tissue that, left untreated, may require limb amputation.
- Experts are calling for an increase in drug checking, support services, overdose prevention education, and distribution of narcan, an overdose reversal medication.
James Sherman sees the telltale signs every day in his job as the director of men’s programs at Savage Sisters Recovery center, in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Some of the drug users arrive there in a stupor, some unable to stay awake, some with open sores or wounds on their hands, arms, legs, heads.
