{"id":228160,"date":"2025-04-14T07:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T11:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=228160"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:30:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:30:28","slug":"animal-tranquilizers-found-in-illegal-opioids-may-suppress-the-lifesaving-medication-naloxone-%e2%88%92-and-cause-more-overdose-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/04\/animal-tranquilizers-found-in-illegal-opioids-may-suppress-the-lifesaving-medication-naloxone-%e2%88%92-and-cause-more-overdose-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Tranquilizers Found in Illegal Opioids May Suppress the Lifesaving Medication Naloxone \u2212 and Cause More Overdose Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

The animal tranquilizers\u00a0xylazine<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0medetomidine<\/a>\u00a0are in approximately one-third of the illegal opioids available in the U.S., including\u00a0fentanyl<\/a>,\u00a0heroin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0oxycodone<\/a>. Animal tranquilizers enhance the user\u2019s euphoric high from opioids, particularly in those who have developed a\u00a0tolerance to the opioid<\/a>. But adding the tranquilizers to these\u00a0already illicit drugs could keep naloxone<\/a>, a medication known to prevent deaths from opioid overdose, from working.<\/p>\n

These are the key findings of\u00a0my recent study<\/a>, published in March 2025 in the Journal of Pharmacy Technology.<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0pharmacist and researcher<\/a>\u00a0who investigates the physical and psychological effects of\u00a0illegal drugs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201clegal high\u201d substances<\/a>, I\u2019m well aware of how animal tranquilizers in opioids have\u00a0critical health implications<\/a>\u00a0for users, their families and the first responders who try to help them.<\/p>\n

I conducted this new systematic review to collate information on the prevalence of animal tranquilizer adulteration of illicit opioid products, the mechanisms of action, and how these new products could affect the current recommendations for naloxone use in people who have stopped breathing.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opioids, much of them illicit, kill more than\u00a080,000 Americans every year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quick administration of naloxone \u2013 also known as Narcan \u2013 by a first responder, loved one or bystander can\u00a0revive an opioid user<\/a>\u00a0who has overdosed. If administered in time, naloxone is\u00a0effective in over 90% of cases<\/a>. Typically, a nasal spray is used.<\/p>\n

By blocking the brain\u2019s\u00a0opioid receptors<\/a>, naloxone keeps the opioid from\u00a0suppressing the user\u2019s ability to breathe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But animal tranquilizers bypass the opioid receptors; instead, they overstimulate the\u00a0brain\u2019s alpha-2 receptors<\/a>, which are responsible for inducing relaxation.<\/p>\n

Naloxone, however, does not significantly affect alpha-2 receptors, so it doesn\u2019t work as well with opioids laced with animal tranquilizers.<\/p>\n

To put it another way, naloxone remains effective against the opioid portion of a combination product, but it\u2019s ineffective against the\u00a0animal tranquilizer component<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even after naloxone was administered to them, 73% of people in one study who used opioids blended with xylazine or medetomidine\u00a0required mechanical ventilation and 55% were comatose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Often, the result is death. One study shows just over 35% of users who\u00a0overdosed on xylazine<\/a>, with or without opioids, died.<\/p>\n

Neither emergency personnel nor loved ones can tell whether a user has taken only the opioid or a combination drug, which means they can no longer be sure whether the naloxone will work.<\/p>\n

This is all happening as overdose opioid deaths in the U.S. experienced a slight decline. There were just\u00a0over 81,0000 deaths in 2023<\/a>, about a 4% decrease from the previous year.<\/p>\n

Much of that progress is due to the\u00a0increased accessibility of naloxone<\/a>\u00a0since its approval as a nonprescription nasal spray by\u00a0the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, it\u2019s common to see health agencies giving away naloxone\u00a0for free at community events<\/a>, workplaces putting naloxone boxes\u00a0near their automatic external defibrillators<\/a>, and rescue kits containing naloxone in public places, from\u00a0universities to highway rest stops<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What still isn\u2019t known<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of the possible\u00a0presence of xylazine or medetomidine in these drugs<\/a>, changes might be needed to the\u00a0standard recommendations to treat opioid emergencies<\/a>. But this has not been systematically studied.<\/p>\n

Currently, if you can\u2019t rouse a person you suspect has overdosed, the recommendation is to administer the first nasal dose of naloxone before calling 911.<\/p>\n

But now, because of the possibility the opioid contains a tranquilizer, it might be better to call 911 before giving the first dose, as is\u00a0now recommended in New York state<\/a>. That way, first responders arrive sooner and can provide mechanical ventilation, if needed.<\/p>\n

Should the person not revive after the first dose, rather than following the current standard recommendation \u2013 sitting and waiting two minutes before dispensing the second dose \u2013 new research suggests it might be better to\u00a0do rescue breathing<\/a>. Regardless of what happens in the interdose period, if the second dose is unsuccessful,\u00a0New York state<\/a>\u00a0now recommends rescue breathing until first responders arrive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published in The Conversation.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Animal tranquilizers are in approximately one-third of the illegal opioids in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":228161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2460,2231,2648,1864,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-228160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-health-well-being","category-blue-research","category-pharm","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 07:55:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228162,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228160\/revisions\/228162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/228161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228160"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=228160"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=228160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}