Cortez Masto leads Congress push to crack down on tainted fentanyl

By Casey Harrison (contact)

Sunday, April 9, 2023 | 2 a.m.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., is leading a push by lawmakers to regulate a powerful animal sedative that federal officials say is being added to illicit fentanyl supplies to potentially exacerbate the nationwide opioid crisis and cause irreversible overdoses.

In December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert about a sharp increase in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine — a sedative commonly used on horses, cattle and other large animals — occurring nationwide but particularly in the northeast. Known by the street name “tranq,” officials have also seen xylazine in mixtures containing cocaine and heroin, but most frequently it’s reported in combination of two or more substances.

Cortez Masto’s bill, dubbed the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, would classify illicit use of the drug under Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, but would still allow it to be used for its intended purpose. Xylazine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration for veterinary use in the 1970s but has never been authorized for human consumption.

The bill was introduced March 28 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it has gained support from several Republican colleagues and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who is often the linchpin for passing legislation in a near evenly divided Senate. Additionally, the bill has earned the support of Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.

A similar iteration of the bill was also introduced in the U.S. House.

“Drug traffickers are going to great lengths to pad their profits with dangerous drugs like tranq, and we need to empower law enforcement to crack down on its spread in our communities,” Cortez Masto said. “This bipartisan legislation will ensure the DEA and local law enforcement have the tools they need to get xylazine off our streets while protecting its important use as a veterinary tranquilizer.”

If signed into law, the bill would allow the federal government to declare xylazine as an emerging drug threat and ensure that all salts and isomers of xylazine are covered when restricting its illicit use. The bill would also enable the DEA to begin tracking the manufacturing of xylazine to ensure it is not being diverted to the black market.

The DEA noted in an report from last October that xylazine is readily available through pharmaceutical distributors and internet sites catering to veterinarians and animal handlers, but noted it is also readily available from other websites in either liquid or powder form. It’s often available with no relation to veterinary needs, nor requirements to prove legitimate need from it.

Further, a kilogram of xylazine powder can be purchased from suppliers in China for as low as $6, according to the DEA report. Because of its low price and easy access, “its use as an adulterant may increase the profit for illicit drug traffickers, as its psychoactive effects allows them to reduce the amount of fentanyl” used in a mixture, the DEA states.

In Clark County, Metro Police have encountered xylazine in 13 instances in the past year and a half, when the agency first began keeping track, said Det. Josh Garber, of Metro’s narcotics unit. Of that, xylazine was discovered in three overdose investigations, though Metro is unable to confirm if Xylazine could be attributed as a cause of death.

Garber said because xylazine is a sedative and not an opioid, an overdose cannot be reversed by Narcan, known generically as naloxone, which was approved by the FDA last week for over-the-counter use.

“Basically, they are taking our fentanyl pills — our M30 pills which are fake oxycodone pills — and those are purchased on the streets here in Clark County and in Las Vegas,” Garber said. “Narcan does not work, so that’s what scares us a little bit. It is a relatively new drug that’s still out there.”

And while Metro notes while xylazine’s presence isn’t as widespread here as it is out east, they are doing what they can to alert officers and the public in an attempt from it becoming a more widespread issue. Last year, the DEA reported approximately 23% of all fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the agency contained xylazine, adding xylazine and fentanyl mixtures have been detected in 48 states.

The bill has been endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, and, locally, has the backing of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association. Martin Paris, president of the cattlemen’s association, praised the bill for striking a balance between cracking down on its elicit use while still helping animal handlers to be able to keep using xylazine for its intended purpose.

“The last thing we want to see is communities be shredded by illegal drug use for something that’s not even intended for use in humans,” Paris said. “We’re dealing with a lot of the time animals that are over a thousand pounds, so you could imagine needing to do any type of medical work becomes a safety issue for both yourself and the animal.”

Without knowing how widespread xylazine is being used, it’s impossible to say whether drug traffickers will be using it as a cutting agent years from now, said George Fisher, a professor at Stanford University Law School.

“It may be that the problem will recede without action by the government,” said Fisher. “But on the other hand, I don’t see a specific downside in getting ahead of the problem by scheduling the drug and allowing law enforcement to proceed against it, to the degree that it does make inroads in markets around the country.”

Based off what federal officials have learned by combating fentanyl in recent years, it makes sense to try and get xylazine off the streets as quickly as possible to stave off a new front to an already deadly epidemic, Fisher said.

“For a user on the streets who would like to avoid this drug and its very bad side effects, there’s not much that one can do,” Fisher said, adding that most commercially-available drug test strips can’t detect xylazine. “So government action is probably the only way to protect the street users who otherwise would be exposed to this drug.”

Fentanyl has already infiltrated much of the street drug market seen around the Las Vegas valley, Garber said, adding there’s about a 70% chance that illegal counterfeit pain pills contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.

“Here’s what I would say if you’re purchasing prescription medication off the streets and not from a pharmacy: there’s a very likely chance it contains a lethal dose of fentanyl, which has the ability to contain xylazine,” he said. “The dangers of buying drugs off the streets is that it can be fatal. And that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”