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'Zombie drug' smuggled across southern border a growing threat to Americans, doctor warns
Doctor who studies xylazine, which makes fentanyl deadlier, says drug is being imported into US via Mexico


A tranquilizer commonly referred to as a "zombie drug" is being manufactured and smuggled across the U.S. southern border, according to a doctor who has spent years studying it.

The drug xylazine, known as "tranq" in street lingo, is used as a tranquilizer by veterinarians.

In the 2010s, the drug made its way to the streets almost exclusively by being stolen from veterinarians and was particularly prevalent on the East Coast. Now, it is being manufactured and coming from abroad, and its footprint could dramatically scale.

"The drug leaves users in a "zombie-like" state as it constricts blood vessels and cuts off oxygen flow to the body, causing abscesses that rot the flesh.

The drug is also uniquely dangerous because it does not respond to naloxone, which is used to counteract opioid overdoses, and when the drug is detected, it is almost always detected with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.

"It's almost exclusively used together with fentanyl to augment it, almost never by itself," Friedman said. "