The Santa Cruz County community has been left shaken by the tragic death of a 35-year-old woman, who recently became the first known victim of a fatal xylazine overdose in the county. According to Mercury News, Xylazine, also known as “tranq” and the “zombie drug,” is an animal tranquilizer not approved for human use, and it has been increasingly circulating the streets, adding another dangerous dimension to the ongoing opioid crisis.
As reported by KRON4, the woman was found unresponsive and later tested positive for xylazine and fentanyl during a postmortem toxicology examination. The use of xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer meant for large livestock, has been on the rise across the San Francisco Bay Area, including in Santa Cruz County. Drug dealers often mix xylazine with fentanyl to extend the latter's euphoric effects, without the user's knowledge, posing significant risks to those who inadvertently consume the deadly concoction.
Dr. David Ghilarducci, the Santa Cruz County EMS medical director, warned the community about the presence of xylazine in local drugs, emphasizing that fentanyl alone is already "extraordinarily dangerous" and adding xylazine only compounds the risks, CBS San Francisco reported. The Public Health Department has been proactive in alerting local doctors to the increasing prevalence of xylazine in the drug supply, as the situation necessitates a community-wide effort to address the issue and prevent further tragedies.
The appearance of xylazine in Santa Cruz County is not an isolated incident. Earlier this year, four fatal fentanyl overdoses in San Francisco involved xylazine, and the dangerous substance has since been reported in similar cases in Santa Clara and Sonoma counties, too. The alarming spread of xylazine in the region and beyond raises additional concerns about the state of the opioid crisis and the need for immediate action to prevent more unnecessary deaths.
Maura Gaffney, a DEA Intelligence Analyst, noted the difficulty for users to discern the substances they're actually using due to the proliferation of synthetic drugs and the ways they're mixed together, as mentioned by KRON4. Xylazine can be consumed through various methods, such as smoking, snorting, or injecting. Unfortunately, testing for xylazine is not yet available in some emergency rooms, further complicating efforts to detect and address its presence in the drug supply.
While the opioid overdose remedy naloxone, also known as Narcan, does not reverse the effects of xylazine poisoning, the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency still urges bystanders to call 911, administer naloxone, and perform rescue breathing if someone appears unresponsive. If xylazine is present, the patient may still appear drowsy even after receiving naloxone, but immediate intervention is crucial nevertheless.
For those seeking support and treatment for substance use, resources are available through primary care doctors or the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division. In response to the increasing prevalence of xylazine and other dangerous substances in drug supplies, community members must be vigilant in monitoring the situation and taking action to save lives one step at a time, for it is in unity that strength lies in combating the opioid crisis and the danger posed by the deadly "zombie drug" and similar substances.
