What Is 'Tranq' (Xylazine)?
Xylazine (pronounced zye-luh-zeen), commonly known as “tranq,” is a non-opioid medicine that veterinarians use to tranquilize (sedate), relieve pain, and relax muscles in animals like dogs, cats, and horses. It’s not FDA-approved for use in humans. It’s typically sold as a clear liquid under the brand names Anased, Chanazine, Rompun, and Sedazine.
Around the early 2000s, people started to inject it as a recreational drug. It's a depressant that makes people feel drowsy, slows their heart and breathing rates, relaxes their muscles, and slows their brain activity. It's usually combined with other drugs like fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, oxycodone, or alprazolam. Combining tranq with other opioids boosts or extends the effects of these drugs, makes them more addictive, and cuts costs for those who make the drugs.
When it's mixed with heroin or fentanyl, it may be called "tranq dope." When it’s mixed mostly with heroin and cocaine, it may be called ”speedball.” Other street names in the U.S. include “sleep cut,” “anestecia de caballo,” or "horse tranq."
Tranq can have dangerous, potentially life-threatening effects on your health. For instance, one side effect is open sores (necrotic skin ulcers) on your skin, usually on your arms and legs. These sores can get bad very fast – and they don't appear just where you've injected the drug. Because tranq can cause extreme and prolonged sedation and skin sores, it’s also sometimes called a “zombie drug.”
Here’s everything you need to know about tranq and its effects.
Is Tranq Legal?
Tranq is not approved by the FDA for use in humans. But it's not currently a federally controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. That means it’s not illegal to use by itself under federal law. You can get it with a veterinarian’s prescription. But in 2023, the U.S. government took steps to restrict importing xylazine and the ingredients necessary to make it to crack down on non-veterinary uses of it.
Some states have put xylazine on their own controlled substances list. For example, as of 2023, the governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Florida have all taken steps to classify xylazine as a scheduled drug in their states. This means that tranq may be illegal to sell or use without a prescription in your state.
How Is Tranq Used?
Tranq you buy on the streets is usually mixed into other drugs as an adulterant to lower the costs of making the drugs. It may also be added to other drugs to enhance or extend the effects or decrease the side effects of those other drugs. For instance, tranq can extend the effects of fentanyl, which tend to last a short time, compared to other opioids. The recreational drugs it's often mixed with include:
- Fentanyl (most often)
- Cocaine
- Heroin
- Benzodiazepines, such as alprazolam (Xanax) and lorazepam (Ativan)
- Methamphetamines
- Opioids, such as oxycodone (Percocet)
Tranq is typically used in the following ways:
- Injecting either into your muscle or vein
- Snorting into your nose
- Swallowing as a tablet
Some people may also vape or smoke tranq, but there's not much information about that so far.
To help prevent an overdose, public health researchers think it's probably safer to snort it than to inject it.
Tranq Effects
How long do the effects of tranq last?
This depends on the dose, how you took it, and what it was mixed with. But the effects can last eight hours or longer.
Tranq side effects
Xylazine is a central nervous system depressant, so it can cause:
- Slow breathing rate
- Slow heart rate
- Very low blood pressure
- Memory loss
- Cardiac arrest, which is when your heart stops beating, usually because of an electrical disturbance
Long-term effects of using tranq
Long-term use of tranq can cause chronic complications with many of your organ systems, including your skin. It causes wounds and ulcers on your skin. This is probably because it reduces blood flow around your body, especially between your organs and to your skin.
Eschar and ulcers
Eschar are pieces of dead tissue that slough off your skin. This can happen when you have a severe burn, gangrene, or a severe wound, such as an ulcer. Research so far shows that about 40% of people who use tranq get skin ulcers. These ulcers seem to start on your arms and legs, and you can develop them no matter how you use it, whether that's snorting, swallowing, or injecting. These wounds can get bad very fast, so you may wind up with eschar.
Tranq Dependence
Experts don't yet know much about dependence on tranq. We still need research to understand how likely you are to become dependent on it.
So far, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) doesn't include a specific diagnosis for substance use disorder related to xylazine or tranq. But early research suggests that xylazine mixed with fentanyl (tranq dope) may have more potential for symptoms of substance use disorder and may have more intense withdrawal symptoms than fentanyl alone.
Tranq Withdrawal
Tranq withdrawal symptoms
Experts don't yet know a lot about tranq withdrawal, but the symptoms may include:
- Anxiety
- Crankiness
- Restlessness
- Really low blood pressure
If you are having withdrawal symptoms, you need to go see your doctor. You will likely need medical management, including management for opioid withdrawal, since it's unlikely that you were exposed to just tranq without mixture with other drugs.
Tranq Overdose
An overdose on tranq often looks very similar to an opioid overdose. And tranq can increase the opioid effects of fentanyl and heroin. The signs and symptoms of an overdose include:
- Unconsciousness or unresponsiveness
- Extended periods (several hours) of sedation and immobility, including in awkward positions, such as slumped against a wall or bent all the way forward at the waist. This is known as opioid "nodding," and tranq seems to make it worse.
- Shallow or slow breathing, or potentially stopped breathing
- Snoring or gurgling sounds coming from their mouth
- Pupils that are so small, they are described as pinpoints
- Cold, clammy skin
- Blue lips or fingernails that show the person isn't getting enough oxygen
If you notice these symptoms, call 911 and get the person to an emergency room right away. If the person is unconscious, put them on their side with their head supported. Check to make sure they continue to breathe. If they stop breathing, give them rescue breaths, if possible.
How are tranq overdoses treated?
Naloxone (Narcan) doesn't seem to work on tranq. But since tranq is usually mixed with opioids or other drugs, experts recommend naloxone in the case of overdose. This will reverse the effects of the opioid in the mix.
To help with the effects of xylazine, experts recommend supportive care. This may include ventilation for breathing, medicines to help bring your blood pressure and heart rate up, and wound care.
Does Tranq Show Up on Drug Tests?
Xylazine isn't included in routine drug tests or toxicology screens. Another complication is that although the effects can last for hours, the half-life of xylazine in your blood and pee is about 23-50 minutes. This means that even if routine drug tests could detect it, they may not pick it up unless you were tested soon after taking it. This is unlikely to help in the case of an overdose.
Test strips have been developed for xylazine, but there isn't a lot of information yet about how well they work. Your local harm reduction program may have them available.
Safety Tips for Tranq Use
If you use recreational drugs, be aware that xylazine may be mixed into the drugs you take. And it's unlikely that you'll be able to tell if they have tranq by how they look, taste, or cook.
Given that, here are some ways you can help protect yourself if you choose to use:
If you can find test strips at your local harm reduction program, test your drugs before you take them. But be aware that a negative result doesn't necessarily mean your drugs don't have tranq.
Go slow. Take a small amount and wait for several minutes to see how it affects you before you take more. To help prevent an overdose, sniffing or smoking is probably safer than injecting.
If you're injecting, follow safer injection practices. These include:
- Always use new or sterile needles. Don't share or reuse needles.
- Clean your injection site with an alcohol wipe and let it dry completely before you inject.
- Monitor your injection sites and any wounds you have. If your wounds get worse or don't heal, go see your doctor or ask if your harm reduction program has wound care kits.
If possible, don't use alone. Have at least one reliable person who knows what's going on and can check up on you. If you can’t have someone watch over you, try a hotline like Never Use Alone, which is available in English (800-484-3731) and Spanish (800-928-5330).
If you use in a group, stagger your use so at least one person who isn't using is able to check on the people in the group. You may fall asleep for a long time on tranq, so make sure you're in a safe place and your belongings are secured. Make sure you lie down in a comfortable position, and you aren't putting pressure on your arms or legs, which can stop blood flow to these areas.
If someone has fallen asleep in an awkward position on tranq, adjust them so that their airway is open and they can breathe freely. They should be taking at least 10 breaths per minute.
Keep naloxone with you and know how to use it. Watch out for your friends while you're using together. If an overdose happens, call 911 and stay with the person until medical help arrives.
Takeaways
Xylazine is a non-opioid tranquilizer used in veterinary medicine. Since around the early 2000s, it's been showing up mixed in with recreational drugs like fentanyl and heroin. When used an a recreational drug, it may be called tranq. People generally inject, snort, or swallow it, but some people may smoke it. Researchers don't yet know about how likely you are to become dependent on tranq, but it enhances the effects of fentanyl and seems to have more potential for withdrawal symptoms compared to fentanyl alone. If you're going to use tranq, practice harm reduction techniques to protect yourself from an overdose.
Tranq FAQs
What treatment options are available for tranq addiction?
Since tranq isn't generally used on its own, most substance use programs will address substances other than tranq, such as opioids. In the U.S., call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) helpline a 800-662-HELP (800-662-4357). This is a free, confidential number in English and Spanish for information and treatment referral for any substance use disorder. They can help you find treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations in your area. You don't need health insurance to call the number.
