Health Department PSA.
A growing number of overdose deaths in New Haven can be attributed to a potent veterinary tranquilizer that’s becoming more prevalent in the human drug market.
Substance use deaths have been rising in New Haven and across the country since the Covid-19 pandemic. A growing percentage of those deaths have been associated with xylazine, a tranquilizer that is increasingly being used to lace opioids.
Xylazine (also known as “tranq”), a depressant typically used as a tranquilizer for horses and other cattle, has been increasingly mixed with fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid, across the country.
In recent years, the drug has saturated the fentanyl supply in Philadelphia. Its presence in New Haven’s drug market has been growing, too.
According to the New Haven Health Department’s data, 1.7 percent of fatal overdoses in 2019 — 1 out of a total of 59 deaths — were associated with xylazine.
In 2022, 13.4 percent of fatal overdoses — 15 out of 112 — were linked to xylazine.
Since 2019, a majority of New Haven-based fatal overdoses from xylazine (11 deaths) have occurred in the 06513 zip code, which encompasses Fair Haven and Fair Haven Heights.
According to the National Institute of Health, xylazine’s effects include drowsiness, amnesia, slow breathing and heart rate, and “dangerously” low blood pressure.
Notably, the drug “can cause severe skin wounds that do not look like typical wounds,” said city Health Director Maritza Bond. Ulcers associated with xylazine can look like melted or chemically burned skin. In extreme cases, the wounds have resulted in amputation.
Since tranq is not an opioid, the drug is not responsive to the overdose reversal drug known as naloxone or narcan. Bond urged bystanders who notice someone overdosing from xylazine to call 911 immediately so that medical attention can be provided as soon as possible.
Still, Bond said, it’s worth administering naloxone in the case of a xylazine-related overdose, as the drug is often used in tandem with opioids. Bond stressed that when a bystander observes an overdose, “We ask that they administer [naloxone], but they need to be calling 911.”
Bond said her department is “increasing awareness and outreach” about xylazine, as well as distributing narcan kits and trainings.
She pointed out that Connecticut has a Good Samaritan Law, which protects people from being arrested or held civilly liable for drug use on scene if they administer naloxone or call 911.
In New Haven, opioid and other substance users can request that their supplies be tested for xylazine — “no questions asked,” said Bond — at the Yale Community Health Care Van office at 270 Congress Ave from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
If you are struggling with substance use, you are not alone. Local and national resources are available at https://connectgnh.org/. The Never Use Alone hotline is 1 – 800-484‑3731.
