The UK government is to ban a meat-rotting animal tranquiliser used in e-cigarettes.
Xylazine, nicknamed a “tranquilizer,” has helped turn American cities like Philadelphia and New York into “zombie lands,” leaving users lifeless.
But the potent drug – strong enough to knock out elephants – is now “widespread” on UK streets, experts say.
It has already been linked to 11 deaths since 2022.
As part of a new crackdown on drug gangs, the Home Office will now push through legislation to ban xylazine and 21 other substances in a bid to prevent future deaths.
Karl Warburton, 43 (pictured), died in May 2022 from the effects of xylazine combined with other drugs including heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.
Xylazine depresses the central nervous system, causing users, like these in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, to appear zombie-like.
Police Minister Diana Johnson said: ‘One of the central missions of this new Government is to make our streets safer.
‘We will not accept the use of substances that put lives at risk and allow drug gangs to profit by exploiting vulnerable people.
‘We have seen what has happened in other countries when the use of these drugs is allowed to grow unchecked, and that is why we are among the first countries to take action and protect our communities from these dangerous new drugs.
‘Criminals who produce, distribute and profit from these drugs will therefore face the full weight of the law.
A powerful animal tranquilizer that has helped turn some US cities into “zombie lands” is being added to UK cocaine supplies, experts have warned.
‘The changes being introduced this week will also make it easier to combat those suppliers who try to circumvent our controls.’
Xylazine, which has been found in vapes that some illegal drug users use to consume cannabis, will be labelled as a Class C drug.
Of the other 21, six will be controlled as Class A.
Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, drugs are divided into three different classes depending on the danger they pose to people.
Class A is the most serious and includes substances such as cocaine, crack, ecstasy, MDMA and heroin, while codeine, ketamine and cannabis are considered Class B.
Meanwhile, the so-called “date rape” drug GHB, anabolic steroids nitrous oxide and the stimulant khat are among the class C drugs.
Current drug laws state that those found in possession of Class A drugs face up to seven years in prison, an unlimited fine or both.
Anyone caught supplying or producing can face life imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.
People caught in possession of Class B weapons face up to five years in prison, while anyone caught carrying Class C weapons can be jailed for two years.
Xylazine overdose deaths in the United States rose from 102 to 3,468 in just three years between 2018 and 2021.
The White House designated it as an “emerging drug threat” in April 2023, which often precedes a drug being classified as illegal.
But no further action has yet been taken at national level.
The flesh-eating drug can affect a person’s skin in places other than the injection site. This patient often injected the drug into his neck with gruesome effects.
Some individual US states, including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, have implemented bans.
Earlier this year, researchers at King’s College London also found tranquilizers in cocaine, counterfeit codeine and Valium tablets.
They warned that the figure of 11 is also likely to be a “gross underestimate” given that UK laboratories have not been routinely testing for the drug.
They are believed to include Karl Warburton, a 43-year-old factory worker from Solihull who became the UK’s first known tranquilliser victim in 2022.
Writing in the diary AddictionThey warned that if tranquilizer use soared like in the United States, hundreds of Britons could die.
“If the UK were to experience a 20-fold increase in deaths as seen in the US since 2015, deaths following xylazine use could be anticipated to exceed 220 deaths by 2028,” they said.
The government said xylazine will continue to be available on prescription from a veterinarian, but will only be available if legally prescribed.
The changes are expected to come into effect later this year or early 2025.