As part of this worrying trend, a growing number of fentanyl users have taken to smoking the drug. This practice may reduce the harms associated with injecting opioids but may also lead to more people taking the leap into intentional fentanyl use, since smoking can seem less scary than injecting. While some of the risk of infectious disease spread may be reduced with smoking, the overdose risk is still just as real.
The combination of fentanyl and xylazine is very dangerous and can lead to a potentially deadly outcome. Both drugs cause significant sedation, respiratory depression and a slower heart rate. When they are combined, the effects are enhanced.The unpredictable nature of xylazine poses challenges for emergency responders. Xylazine is not an opioid and is not responsive to naloxone , the opioid overdose reversal agent.
While using illegal drugs has always been risky, the stakes are now incredibly high. Fentanyl is ubiquitous, and it’s imperative that folks reach out and talk to someone and get help. We have seen too many people die from overdose, and we see many people coming to treatment because they’ve watched their own loved ones die and are scared it could happen to them, too.
Tyler Harrell is CEO of Greenhouse Treatment Center. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.