Xylazine (or Tranq) is a veterinary drug that is increasingly being used as an adulterant to Fentanyl. The advantages of Xylazine as an additive to Fentanyl are that it is potent, easily available, and cheap. It can also prolong the duration of the opiate “high.”

The dangers are that it can also contribute to a fatal overdose (Xylazine is not an opiate, and Naloxone will not reverse an overdose), it can produce skin lesions (Xylazine has also been called the “skin-rotting zombie drug”), and it produces a more prolonged withdrawal cycle when mixed with other opiates.