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Philly’s health chief backs restricting xylazine, the animal tranquilizer in city opioids
Aubrey WhelanPhiladelphia Inquirer
4 Mar 2023
Excerpt:
Philadelphia’s health commissioner says her department supports new Food and Drug Administration restrictions around shipments of xylazine, the veterinary tranquilizer that’s contaminated most of the city’s illicit opioid supply — and has been advocating for classifying the drug as a controlled substance.
Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole’s remarks came a day after the department issued a statement from its harm-reduction division, raising concerns about the implications of the FDA’s decision, which was announced earlier this week.
That statement said the department understood the FDA’s new restrictions, which would allow agents to more closely scrutinize and detain shipments of xylazine, were “motivated by concern for the welfare of people who use drugs.”
But, the statement continued, the division was concerned that if xylazine were to disappear from the drug supply, it would send people addicted to it into serious withdrawal. Because xylazine is not an opioid, many doctors are only just beginning to learn how to treat its withdrawal symptoms — severe chills, agitation, and anxiety.
In the statement and a subsequent interview Friday, staffers said they were also concerned that the move could lead dealers to introduce newer, unfamiliar, and possibly more potent drugs to the city’s illicit supply to get around restrictions on xylazine.