Public health officials say Mexican cartels and drug gangs inside the U.S. are mixing a dangerous chemical sedative called medetomidine into fentanyl and other drugs sold on the street.
The combination triggered a new wave of overdoses that began in late April and have accelerated in May.
“The numbers reported out of Philadelphia were 160 hospitalizations over a 3 or 4-day period,” said Alex Krotulski who heads an organization called NPS Discovery that studies illicit drugs sold in the U.S.
Medetomidine, most often used by veterinarians as an animal tranquilizer, but also formulated for use in human patients, has also been linked to a recent “mass overdose outbreaks in Chicago.
Tags: Fentanyl Medetomidine New Drug Trends Overdoses Xylazine