Zombie Drug Xylazine in India: Dangers, Effects & Expert Warning

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Dr. Rajiv Mehta, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, explains the rise of the ‘zombie drug’ xylazine in India. Learn how this veterinary sedative is being mixed with fentanyl and heroin, its zombie-like effects seen in viral videos from Chandigarh, Bengaluru, and Bihar, severe health risks including skin ulcers, why naloxone fails, and urgent prevention steps. Full expert interview on the growing public health crisis in Indian cities.  #ZombieDrug #Xylazine #TranqDope #FentanylIndia #DrugAbuseIndia #XylazineEffects #SirGangaRamHospital #DrRajivMehta #OpioidCrisis #PublicHealthIndia #SubstanceAbuse #DrugAlert #India   🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE  📰 Breaking news. ⚡Live updates. 🔍 Trusted stories — all in one app. Download the Asianet News App today 👇 🍎 iOS: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/asianet-news-official/id1093450032 🤖 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vserv.asianet&hl=en_IN  For More Updates:  Follow us on our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va5Bq3yKwqSLSQTxam0r  English: https://newsable.asianetnews.com/  Hindi: https://hindi.asianetnews.com/  Malayalam: https://www.asianetnews.com/  Kannada: https://kannada.asianetnews.com/  Tamil: https://tamil.asianetnews.com/  Telugu: https://telugu.asianetnews.com/  Bengali: https://bangla.asianetnews.com/  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianetNewsa...  Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AsianetNewsEN  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ann.newsable/  ➡ If you like our video, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel to get the daily dosage of news, entertainment, sports, and more.

Transcript

00:11Joining us today is Dr. Rajiv Mehta, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Sir Gangaram Hospital.

00:19With rising concerns over zombie drug xylozyme spreading across cities like Chandigarh and

00:27Bangaluru. Today, Dr. Mehta is here with us to help us understand its dangers, its impact

00:35in India. Thank you, Dr. Mehta, for speaking with us today.

00:39Thank you for giving me that.

00:41First, I'd like to understand xylozyme started out as a veterinary sedative. So now, how and

00:50why it transitioned into a street drug in India now that we see few of the cases now also

00:56being called as a zombie drug?

00:59See, basically, xylozyme or TRANK or TRANK DOM started is basically a very cheap economical

01:07drug, not cheap, but very economical drug. And it is available without any prescription.

01:13So it is over the counter drug. It is basically, it was basically designed to sedate the animals.

01:20Yeah. They had a huge body weight and a huge energy levels. So it is a very, very robust drug

01:29to sedate.

01:34But on the other hand, it is economical also. Now the people who wish to do this term, what the

01:42drug cartel is doing is that the heroin and the fentanyl, which is again an injectable drug,

01:49they are adulterating those drugs with the help of xylozyme. So in turn, decreasing the cost.

01:58Right. So this is how that is penetrating the market. So initially, it started with the US,

02:05the drug cartel started with the US, there the fentanyl was coming from other countries and

02:10they were being adulterated. And the adulteration depends on how much the cost they had to keep.

02:16See, if they had to keep a very low cost, so they will adulterate more with xylozyme because it will

02:22again sedate and it will potentiate the impact of fentanyl, the opioids. So this is how they started

02:28mixing and it started coming into the market.

02:32Okay. So you did explain us the entire process, but from where we are seeing, there are lots of

02:41viral videos, you might have also come across those videos. There are videos from Chandigarh,

02:47there are videos from Bangalore, even Bihar for that matter, when people can be seen standing motionless for

02:53hours. So when we talk about the classic effects of xylozyme, especially when mixed with opioid,

03:01do these match with how we are seeing people reacting on streets when what we saw there in

03:08Bangalore or Chandigarh? Are these the same classic effects?

03:12Yes, definitely. See, as I told you, the xylozyme is basically a primary sedative for animals, which

03:20have huge built and huge energy levels. So it is being used as to calm them down. So when a

03:26person has

03:27injected himself or herself with xylozyme or maybe adulterated fentanyl with xylozyme, that xylozyme,

03:34what will it cause? It will cause muscle relaxation. Okay. Right. It will cause sedation. It will drop

03:41the heart rate and it will drop the respiratory rate. So definitely these are the impacts which

03:45are classically seen with xylozyme, a kind of sedative impacts. At one side, they are moving,

03:51at other side, the xylozyme is slowly taking its impact and making them sedated and sitting in a,

03:56or standing in a one posture. Okay. So what are the, like, how dangerous it is? You have,

04:04initially you did, when we started this interview, you did mention about fentanyl and heroin. So how

04:10dangerous it is? If you could just explain and give us a perspective with regards to how dangerous it

04:15is when it's mixed with fentanyl or heroin. And we have heard about nalixone. So in that case,

04:23how often we are, we do see how often it's becoming very ineffective. So how, in that case,

04:30how is it even going to affect the emergency unit of these Indian cities? So can you just help us

04:37with that perspective? Basically, you have asked so many questions. If I understand first,

04:40how dangerous it is. See, it is very, very dangerous. Number one, because the Indian doctors

04:48are not very well versed with this drug. It is a new entrant. Okay. Right. More of the veterinary

04:55doctors are well versed with this rather than the human doctors. So it is a new entrant. Right.

05:01Number one. Number two, the amount of xylozyme, nobody knows how much that it is. Okay. Number three,

05:07we don't have specific tests to decipher whether the person has consumed xylozyme or not. Like,

05:13we have many tests to know whether there is a cocaine in the body, amphetamines in the body,

05:17opioids, THC, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, alcohol, nicotine. But because it is a new entrant,

05:24we don't have any mechanism to know whether xylozyme has been consumed and how much xylozyme

05:29has been consumed. Okay. So the doctors are at their wits end. They don't know what is happening,

05:35why he is sedated. So it is basically a dangerous drug. Number two, how much dose the person has

05:41consumed? That decides the danger. Okay. Right. So if it is the fentanyl which he has taken is more

05:50adulterated, it is more dangerous. If it is less adulterated, then it is less dangerous. So that we

05:59cannot decipher. That we decipher only when the patient comes and we have to keep that person in

06:04under observation for long. Only then we will come to know whether it is becoming dangerous or not.

06:09So unknown quantity, basically, an unknown drug for the Indian sector. So it is dangerous.

06:16Now, mostly it is not used by self. It is used as an adulterant. So it acts on basically alpha

06:23receptors. Okay. And fentanyl acts on opioid receptors. So both have different mechanism of

06:30actions, but eventually resulting into same kind of action. Okay. So when we give Naloxone,

06:38it is, it debinds the opioids, that is fentanyl or heroin and washes it away. It doesn't, it doesn't

06:46work on what we say this Xylozine. Okay. So even if Naloxone has been given, only that has been washed

06:57away. The opioid, the fentanyl, Xylozine still remains. And because there is no test and otherwise

07:06also we have to manage them symptomatically. Like we have to manage the respiratory, respiration,

07:12heart rate, and everything symptomatically, the vitals we have to manage.

07:17Sir, like just, you just mentioned how Indian doctors are not very well versed with treating

07:25this, if I understood it properly. No. What I mean to say that they don't know whether

07:33this drug is there. So they will treat only symptomatically. If the heart rate is low, we

07:37will give respiratory support. If suppose there is low blood pressure, we will give that cardiovascular

07:49support. So that has to be treated symptomatically. So what I'm trying to say is the doctors have to

07:56support the patient only symptomatically. Okay. They are not aware why that is happening. Okay.

08:03So that is the only thing, but they will definitely able to support that symptomatically. But anyhow,

08:09if more of Xylozine has been taken, then eventually the patient may land up into ICU also.

08:17Okay, sir. Okay. Sir, there are multiple reports that link Xylozine with severe skin ulcers as well.

08:29Zombie effects, we are very well aware of that. Writing mortality rate has also been linked to

08:35Xylozine. You as a psychiatrist, if you could just help us understand with what you have seen,

08:42how it can damage or affect someone who consumes this physically or neurologically. And if not,

08:52what we can expect, how it can affect someone. See, if we understand the basic nature of Xylozine,

08:59what it causes to the body. Okay. Number one, it decreases the muscular power,

09:05causes muscular relaxation. It decreases your blood pressure. It decreases the respiration rate.

09:12And how it is taken. It is generally mixed with fentanyl and fentanyl is generally injected,

09:19whether it is intramuscular or intravenous. So if one is injecting time and again,

09:25and there are only very few points where a person can inject. Before that injection injury is recovered,

09:33that another injection is given. Okay. So the previous injury doesn't have the time to recover

09:40and a new injury has occurred on the same site. Okay. So that will cause, not let the wound heal

09:48properly. Okay. And therefore, there will be multiple puncture sites, multiple wounds. And because

09:56there is muscle relaxation, the pressure injuries can also be there. Okay. So these kinds of things

10:03and with sedation and with sedation, if they are doing multiple things like driving, etc, or maybe

10:10working with a machine or cooking, then there can be physical harms also. Okay. Dr. Mehta, like I mentioned,

10:21when we started out with this interview, I mentioned about viral cases, viral videos all over the social

10:27media, what we saw in Bangalore, what we saw in Chandigarh, what we saw in Bihar. Within weeks,

10:33it picked up. It was all over the internet. So now, when you see the situation on ground, how fast

10:41or

10:41rapid is the misuse of this zombie drug here in India? Generally, it is not very common right now. Okay.

10:49It is not very common. But yes, slowly and slowly, it is percolating into the system.

10:55Slowly and slowly, the drug cartel is just going into the system and soon it may cover. Like in US,

11:01it was the major drug between 2019 to 2023. Okay. Among the drug users, at least 67% had used

11:08it. Okay.

11:10So slowly and slowly, this will come over in India also. That cycle will be repeated in India also.

11:16What kind of population is most at risk when it comes to consumption of this drug?

11:21Number one, adventurous population who wishes to use more and more. Number two, the one who have

11:27been previously dependent on opioid and now they wish to have fentanyl etc. Number three, the population

11:35who wishes a cheap alternative to previous things. Okay. The economical alternatives. Number four,

11:41the adult where the drug cartel is majorly focusing. Number five, the party circuits.

11:50So these are the various populations who are at risk. So majorly every population is generally at risk

11:58who are using non-alcoholic and non-smoking drugs. When we talk about in detail with regards to what kind

12:09of

12:09treatment work best, what approaches work best to treat people who are consuming this drug.

12:17So what would you suggest? And what kind of unique challenges does this kind of consumption pose with

12:24the Indian doctors or Indian facilities here in India?

12:28See, like I told before, Indian doctors are unaware about this drug majorly.

12:33Yeah. Right. So slowly and slowly this has, they have to be taught about this. The toxicology screen

12:41have to be, have to include xylazine. That is important. And when a person is brought here,

12:50so the only way that they are knowing they are treating xylazine will be a test. And when the test

12:55is unavailable, they will not be aware that they are treating xylazine. So the only method,

13:00another method will be only an assumption that the person has consumed fentanyl or heroin injectable

13:05and still after giving Naloxone, if he is not recovering, that means the other thing is there

13:11and that is xylazine. And only symptomatic treatment can be done for xylazine. So that symptomatic

13:16treatment, that observation has to continue till the person recovers from that flaccid state and till his

13:24respiration and BP is normal.

13:27Things like this pick up very quickly. So as a psychiatrist, as someone who has treated people

13:35like that, what kind of measures or campaigns would you suggest and would you want from the

13:43authorities or for that matter, even from the normal public so that there is much awareness with

13:48regards to consumption of this kind of a drug? That's a very nice question. So basically from

13:55a government perspective, what the government can do is that this medicine can be made only available

14:03on the prescription or changing its schedule from over the counter to a schedule so that whenever there

14:11is a buying, so the person knows who's buying it. Like it has happened with benzodiazepine and other

14:16things where there is a lot of restriction now and it is unable without prescription. So number one,

14:23prescription may be mandatory. Number two, who will get the prescription because it is a veterinary drug.

14:29So only a person who's having animal. Okay, that is important. Number three, there should be a

14:39certain knowledge if it is bought in bulk. Okay. Right. So that means somebody else is buying it to mix

14:47it in a

14:47large amount of medicine. E-tracking can be done. Okay. Like in U.S. e-tracking is done where the

14:55drug is

14:55going and other things how it is being used that e-tracking can be done by the government. So these

15:00are the

15:00government measures. Now for the public, they should know that if a drug has been reduced in the price,

15:07if they're getting a cheaper alternative, that means it is mixed with something else. Everything

15:12is being inflated and a drug suddenly becomes a cheaper. That means it is adulterated with something

15:17else, which can be dangerous. And from a medical point of view, Xylazine, we should have tests to

15:26discover whether the person has taken Xylazine or not. So that test has to be there in the labs.

15:32That is important. Generally, strip tests are available. So that can be done. And accordingly,

15:37the doctor can treat that. So the doctors have to be taught regarding this. The people have to be made

15:45aware regarding this, that awareness campaign from the government can also be there. Okay. Okay.

15:50Thank you so much, doctor, for your insight on this widespread concern around this zombie drug,

15:59which is still a very alien concept, if it's the right word to use for this kind of a drug.

16:05Thank you so much for your insights. And thank you for your time, sir. Anytime, anytime.

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