There is a new threat to drug users...
Xylazine, known as "tranq," is becoming increasingly rampant in the US drug supply as well as in Canada and abroad. It is mixed with fentanyl in order to cut the final product and increase the level of euphoria and sedation. Unfortunately, it also has a tendency to rot the flesh at injection sites and it also creates another physical dependency for the addict who does not typically choose to have xylazine in their drugs. Additionally, it doesn't respond to normal treatment, such as naloxone (Narcan).
Other drugs that are used to cut the drug supply include bromazolam, a research chemical and thienodiazepine, fluorofentanyl, alprazolam, and much more. There can be as many as 5 or more different substances in one batch of fentanyl or "heroin." Although heroin still exists on the drug market, it is increasingly rare to encounter actual heroin when attempting to buy it. Fentanyl is often pressed into pill form, imitating pharmaceuticals like oxycodone with "M 30" presses/markings, which can be found on actual 30mg oxycodone IR tablets.
I'm so grateful that I stopped using heroin and other pharmaceutical opioids almost 10 years ago, back before the incursion of highly potent, dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl, carfentanyl, and xylazine. I eventually overdosed for the first time following three plus years of continuous abuse. After injecting heroin at my rooming house, I was found slumped over on a bench behind the property by another resident. The EMTs came just in time and were able to administer Narcan and revive me.
This was the end of my opioid use for good. If I were to be using drugs in 2024 the same way I had been 10 years ago, I'd probably be dead. The current situation with street drugs is abhorrent, dangerous and terrifying. It's a particularly insidious time in history to be an addict.