In a move to “prevent drug deaths and crack down on drug dealing gangs”, the government has laid down legislation to ban “xylazine and 21 other dangerous drugs”, it this week (September 4) announced.
“High-strength veterinary sedative” xylazine, also known as “tranq”, has “increasingly been used in combination with opioids such as heroin as a cheap means of stretching out each dose” and has “also been found in cannabis vapes”, it said.
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“Its effects on long-term users – often leaving them immobilised in the street and prone to non-healing skin lesions – have led to its characterisation as the ‘zombie drug’,” the government added.
In “just three years” between 2018 and 2021, “xylazine-involved overdose deaths in the United States rose from 102 to 3,468”, it said.
“More potent than heroin”
Now “a statutory instrument has been laid in Parliament this week to control xylazine as a class C drug - a step that has not yet been taken in the United States, Canada, Mexico” or other countries affected by its abuse, the government announced.
Another 21 “harmful substances” are set to be banned under the legislation, six of which will be “controlled as class A drugs”, it added.
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It said that among these other drugs are “new variations of nitazenes – highly addictive synthetic opioids – which can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin and therefore carry an increased risk of accidental overdose”.
“The changes are expected to come into force later this year or in early 2025, depending on the parliamentary process,” the government added.
Xylazine will remain available for veterinary prescribing, it said.
Cost of opioids down a third
It comes as new NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) prescriptions data yesterday (September 5) revealed that across England in 2023/24, “the total cost of opioid drugs has decreased by 34% since 2015/16”.
And in the same time frame, there has been a 52% decrease in the total cost of “dependency-forming medicines prescribed in England”.
But with 67 million items for dependency-forming medicines prescribed in 2023/24, there has only been a “1% decrease” in the total number of items prescribed.
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Meanwhile last week, C+D exclusively revealed that there are currently no plans to employ pharmacists at the UK’s first safe drug consumption room, where people “can inject drugs obtained elsewhere”.
And in May, the government greenlit plans to allow “registered pharmacy professionals” to supply take-home naloxone, which rapidly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can also contact Pharmacist Support by emailing info@pharmacistsupport.org or calling 0808 168 2233/0808 168 5133 for free
