Montreal public health warns of new 'Zombie drug' spreading in the city
Montreal's regional health authority (DRSP) is warning about a new and dangerous drug circulating in the city.
Xylazine, also known as "tranq" or "Zombie drug," is an animal tranquillizer used in veterinary medicine that is not meant for humans to consume.
However, it can be cut with opioids such as fentanyl, leading to breathing issues, irregular heartbeat, and overdose.
A preliminary report from the DRSP released on Thursday shows xylazine was detected in 5 per cent of 300 urine samples collected in Montreal last fall.
The health authority is now calling for healthcare professionals and community organizations to be vigilant and ramp up response efforts.
That's easier said than done, says Jean-Francois Mary, executive director of CACTUS Montreal. a community-based harm reduction organization.
"The fact that we don't have access to real-time data is a major barrier to putting in place appropriate actions," said Mary.
CACTUS Montreal offers drug testing services, but so far, there's been no trace of xylazine.
"It's actually a substance that we cannot usually detect in a routine screening," said Mary, adding xylazine must represent more than 5 per cent of a sample to be detected.
An overdose on either xylazine or fentanyl can look the same with one key difference: Naloxone, a fast-acting drug which can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, does not work with xylazine.
"Sometimes we witness that Naloxone doesn’t bring back totally the person, so the person remains unconscious … and we need for the person to be taken care of by paramedics," said Mary.
While the drug is only now being detected in Montreal, Canadian authorities first found xylazine on the illicit drug market in 2012.
"We knew it was coming," said Mary, adding the substance has been prevalent in Puerto Rico for years.
"Then, at some point two years ago, it popped up in the fentanyl supply in Philadelphia, and then it spread to the wall of the East Coast, and then it spread to B.C., and then it spread to Toronto. So then we knew that next was Montreal," said Mary.
Mary says governments need to invest more in coroner services and drug screening to cut down on long testing delays so that those on the front lines of the drug epidemic can keep people safe.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a "major assault."
DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
Passenger killed, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's inflation cools to 3-year low of 2.7%, in boost for rate cut bets
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
'Documents are fraudulent': Graceland is not for sale, Elvis Presley's granddaughter says in lawsuit
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death
Members of a Canadian group representing families of those killed when Iranian officials shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020 say they are not sorry to hear of the death of Iran's president.