PORTSMOUTH, Va. — As local politicians draw up bills to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl across the southern border, overdoses from other drugs, like xylazine, continues to rise.
“The trend has been almost nothing to this explosion of xylazine being found in cases submitted," said Dr. Gene Germano, Medical Director for the GHR Center For Addiction.
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“Patients are knocked out so quickly that they fall out, literally, and they land in such a way that it cuts out blood supply and next thing you know you have an amputation on your hands,” he said.
In fact, when News 3 asked the Virginia Department of Health for numbers of overdose deaths from xylazine in the state, this was their response.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has stats on xylazine-involved overdose deaths; however, OCME has not been sharing the numbers because they're not a true representation of the actual number of overdose deaths that involve xylazine. Most of the OCME’s toxicology testing is done through the Department of Forensic Science (DFS), and the department didn't add xylazine to its panels until around July 2023. All of the xyalzine-involved overdose deaths that the OCME has confirmed were from outside toxicology testing from a private lab. The cases the OCME sends to this lab are related to specific cases and only represent a small portion of the toxicology submissions overall. Therefore, it’s extremely likely that the cases the OCME has confirmed are a significant undercount than the actual number of xylazine-involved overdose deaths in Virginia.
“Would be willing to bet money that it is going to get just as bad as the fentanyl is," said Elizabeth Ripley, founder of The MLW Movement.
Ripley lost her son Michael to a fentanyl overdose in 2021, just six days before his 22nd birthday. She now dedicates her time to slowing down the overdose epidemic through her organization, The MLW Movement. She says that what makes xylazine so scary is the fact that you can't prevent an overdose with NARCAN, something you can do with things like fentanyl.
“I think the only way that we can prevent that from happening as much as it is right now, is to be out there in the streets, to be raising awareness," she said.
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At MLW Movement events, Ripley has partnered with the Portsmouth Health Department to hand out "save a life " kits. Each kit comes with NARCAN, and test strips for drugs like fentanyl and xylazine.
“You would insert the test strips into the water mixed with the powder and then you would take it out and read it after a few minutes, and if there’s a line, like a red line, that means that the drug is present,” said Alexis Page, Deputy Director of the Division of Pharmacy Services for the Virginia Health Department.
Ripley says everyone should have a "save a life" kit in their car, home and business because you never know when you could come across someone in need.
