James Sherman sees the telltale signs every day in his job as the director of men’s programs at Savage Sisters Recovery center, in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Some of the drug users arrive there in a stupor, some unable to stay awake, some with open sores or wounds on their hands, arms, legs, heads. Ronnie, who runs the Philadelphia-based charity Angels in Motion, welcomed the fact that the federal government was finally recognising the scale of the crisis. The drug, an animal tranquillizer, is increasingly mixed or « cut » by drug dealers into supplies of fentanyl which itself is already killing over 100,000 Americans every year.
- It should commission someone to get an antidote back into the medical arena.” But this is unlikely to be made a priority any time soon.
- But spice users like those living in the makeshift camp in Wrexham are unlikely to be able to afford cannabis.
- Ministers and harm-reduction experts clash over what could, or should, be done as the crisis shows no signs of abating.
- As with all substance abuse, those experiencing addiction to flakka should screen for co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.
When someone goes through a flakka detox, they will usually experience withdrawal symptoms such as those listed above. When someone is addicted gabapentin oral route description and brand names to flakka, they can experience withdrawal symptoms without it. Flakka use has also been reported in other parts of the United States.
Spice is a terrifying drug, but panic won’t make it go away
BetterHelp can connect you to an addiction and mental health counselor. As cathinones are hydrophobic molecules, they can cross cell membranes and the blood-brain barrier. This allows them to interact with the monoamine transporters in the synaptic cleft between neurons. The cathinones also inhibit the reuptake of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the central nervous system.
This condition occurs when there’s an excessive influx of sympathetic activation. The euphoric high from flakka abuse can last from hours to days, depending on the dosage. Sometimes the effects of flakka can linger for weeks after it has been ingested.
A few months ago, pictures of spice users slumped unconscious in the town’s bus station went viral on social media. The idea of overdose prevention sites also has merit, says Jeanmarie Perrone, founding director of the Penn Medicine Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy. People at prevention sites use controlled substances in a monitored setting, have access to clean syringes, and can be connected with other services that may promote recovery. In February, Philadelphia’s substance use prevention and harm reduction chief, Dr Andrew Best, warned that cities across America should brace for xylazine and called on the federal government to do more. In the 12 months ending in January, 109,000 Americans died from a drug overdose.
The legislation not only banned their sale, but introduced the prospect of a seven-year prison sentence for offenders. Like synthetic marijuana in New York City, flakka emerged in public consciousness in 2015 after a viral video on YouTube, titled « Flocka [sic] is Destroying USA », depicted a young woman dancing in the rain. Since then, other videos showing people with erratic behaviour were soon attributed to the drug. However, none of these videos actually show people taking the drug.
Spice started life as a “legal high” – a laboratory-engineered chemical that claimed to mimic the effects of cannabis and which came to national prominence around three years ago. Combined with dried plant matter, the drug was sold in “headshops” which promised that when smoked it delivered a herbal high. The TPCN explains that the active chemical can cause « excited delirium », which results in hyperstimulation, paranoia, and hallucinations that can lead to « violent aggression ». Given the availability and widespread distribution of the drug, however, if it turned users into cannibals, there would be more reports of such instances publicly available. Now researchers, counselors, and public health officials are pushing for broad-based approaches to deal with the fallout and prevent tranq’s further spread.
Nearly seven in ten of those deaths were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl and a growing number were linked to xylazine. Flakka, the zombie drug, is very dangerous, don’t let the fact that it has almost been eliminated in the US lull you into a state of security. The use of this illegal drug is spreading among other countries and may once again become a health concern in the United States. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) states alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone (abbreviated as alpha-PVP) is a synthetic cathinone that produces a catatonic-like state in some people. People who use it have gone on mad, violent, zombie-like rampages (Solutions Recovery, 2019).
A zombie drug has created a zombie army, shunting those on the margins so far to the edge of society that they are seen more as ghouls than people. Originally it was just a brand name for one of the many of the legal highs or new psychoactive drugs on the market. As Wrexham’s problems attracted national attention, complaints were made about the number of spice users congregating outside the town’s drop-in centres. Then, three weeks ago, amid the furore, one was forced to temporarily close its doors, leaving the users with nowhere to go.
The Institute Of Medicine report adds that BSN-prepared nurses are better equipped to manage this increasing complexity of care in nursing. In the United States, it is now unavoidable to see or hear news alcohol and anxiety about the opioid crisis. Pain management is essential, and nurses should be educated on all aspects of this important issue. People overdosing on Flakka aren’t just violent; they’re completely fearless.
Flakka (Zombie Drug) vs. Bath Salts
He’s also found strains of spice containing the cannabinoid 5F-ADB which has been linked to at least 10 fatalities in Japan. Last week, Wrexham drug services were warned that a batch of LSD that had been dipped in spice was in circulation in the town. Sutcliffe is one of the few chemists who tests spice seized by police. Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry he examines batches of the drug to determine the best harm-reduction strategies for the health and emergency services. Professor David Nutt, the former chair of the ACMD, who was forced out of the post after repeatedly clashing with ministers over drugs policy, believes the ban has simply driven the spice market underground.
The CDC still recommends the use of narcan in suspected intoxications involving xylazine, because it’s so often combined with opioids like fentanyl and heroin. Officials and counselors in Philadelphia already understand the stakes. During that initial appearance of tranq on the streets in 2006, health authorities recorded only a handful of overdose deaths in which the drug was present. By 2021, more than a third of all overdose deaths in the city had xylazine detected in their toxicology tests, according to Jennifer Shinefield a field epidemiologist with the city. On its most basic level, tranq is the latest development in the evolution of street drug composition, in part because it’s so easy to get and it’s relatively inexpensive.
Police in Lancashire tackle surge of spice-related incidents
But spice users like those living in the makeshift camp in Wrexham are unlikely to be able to afford cannabis. Powell concedes the point – “which is why we’re calling for some regulated availability of less dangerous spice variants”. Rick Bradley, operations manager at 15+ pro tips on how to pass a marijuana drug test asap the drug treatment charity, Addaction, is based in Kent which, prior to the ban, had more headshops than anywhere else in the country. Growing public alarm about the threat posed by legal highs led the government to introduce the Psychoactive Substances Act last year.
On block after block in the Kensington district we saw people suffering from addiction who were increasingly finding their opioid supply was being cut by dealers with xylazine. Xylazine, often referred to as Tranq or the zombie drug, has spread across America at such alarming speed that the White House has now released a new six-point action plan to tackle the crisis. Flakka is chemically similar to the street drug known as bath salts or MDPV.
Flakka: What is the ‘zombie drug’ blamed for face-eating attacks?
Federally, government officials certainly can consider classifying xylazine as a controlled substance. Its presence in drug-related deaths rose from 0.3% to 6.7% between 2015 and 2020, according to a 2022 report published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. That rate was more than 10% in Connecticut, 19% in Maryland and nearly 26% in Pennsylvania, where Sherman remade his life after years of homelessness and drug use.
