A powerful new drug, traditionally used as an animal tranquilizer, is likely to blame for a spike in overdoes in Chicago, health officials reported last week.
The overdoses happened on May 11 and May 14 with drug samples from the cases testing positive for high levels of medetomidine, a veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use.
The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education said in cases where the user has ingested medetomidine, symptoms such as "heightened sedation and profound bradycardia" are common. Bradycardia is a slow heartbeat that gives the user the appearance of a zombified state, the Daily Mail reported.
Medetomidine is often cut with other drugs like fentanyl because, when blended with opioids, it increases the sedative effects of the drug, giving users and dealers the perception of a stronger and more appealing product.
The new sedative is said to be 200 times more powerful than xylazine, another popular drug that gives the users a similar experience to opioids. Yet, because medetomidine is not an opioid, it does not respond to common brands of opioid reversal medication such as naloxone or Narcan.
Bertha Madras, a drug researcher at Harvard Medical School, told NPR last week: "It's critical to alert street users because they're playing Russian roulette now with the drug supply. There is an almost endless supply of new psychoactive substances. There are literally thousands upon thousands of drugs that can be made."
While officials are alarmed by the new designer drug, the number of fatal overdoses in the U.S. fell last year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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