Just the tiniest amount of Fentanyl, as low as two milligrams, can be enough to kill a person; mix that with the new drug on the block, and you’ve got one of the deadliest substances someone can come into contact with.
President Joe Biden’s drug czar warned Americans that Fentanyl mixed with xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, has been linked to rising overdose deaths nationwide.
According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, “Xylazine combined with Fentanyl is being sold illicitly and is associated with significant and rapidly worsening negative health consequences, including fatal overdoses and severe morbidity.”
The FDA has approved xylazine for animals, primarily horses, but not people.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says the high number of overdoses across the U.S. represents an “emerging threat.” The Biden Administration has 90 days to address the crisis and publish a response plan, sending implementation guidance to agencies within 120 days.
Gupta’s warning is the first time a presidential administration formally announced an illicit drug as an “emerging threat” that forces the White House to take immediate action under the SUPPORT Act— a law signed by former President Trump in 2018.
According to the DEA, a kilogram of xylazine powder can be purchased online from Chinese suppliers for only $6 to $20 per kilogram. Because of the low cost of the fatal drug, mixing xylazine with other drugs “may increase the profit for illicit drug traffickers, as its psychoactive effects allow them to reduce the amount of fentanyl or heroin used in a mixture.”
In 2021, more than 107,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in the U.S. In 2020, Customs Border and Protection seized over 4,600 pounds of Fentanyl; by 2021, that amount taken grew to 10,600 pounds. In 2022, that number was 14,100 pounds.
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) criticized the Biden Administration for ignoring the border crisis that has allowed these fatal drugs to enter the U.S.
“Families throughout East Tennessee understand the pain and suffering caused by the opioid epidemic all too well,” Harshbarger told The Daily Signal. “If the Biden Administration took the safety of our communities seriously, aggressive action would be taken to secure our southern border immediately to stop these poisonous drugs from flowing into our country.”