A bill spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo to combat the rising drug scourge of xylazine, a powerful animal tranquilizer that users mix with fentanyl and other substances, passed the House Monday and now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
Xylazine, also known by its street names “tranq” and “zombie drug” — for the severe, rotting wounds it can cause in humans — spurred a warning from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration last spring about its potential lethality, especially when mixed with opioids such as fentanyl. The drug is not approved for human use.
The bipartisan bill, dubbed the Testing, Rapid Analysis and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act, directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to focus its research on existing and emerging illicit drugs containing xylazine and other emerging substances. NIST researchers have been helping to improve and develop technologies to get ahead of synthetic drugs, and Caraveo’s bill directs the agency to apply those efforts to xylazine as well.
The bill was the freshman congresswoman’s first bill to pass through both chambers of Congress. Introduced in March, it was approved by the Senate in June and came back to the House with minor changes for Monday’s vote.
Last year, 1,799 Coloradans died of a drug overdose, down slightly from the 1,881 overdose deaths recorded in the state the year before. Fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to push the state’s per-capita overdose rate to alarming levels.
“New illicit drugs like tranq are fueling an epidemic that is devastating American communities, including families here in Colorado,” Caraveo said in a statement issued shortly after the House gave final passage to her bill on a voice vote. “We need to head off these alarming new threats before they spread.”
Caraveo took office in January, becoming the first representative of Colorado’s newly formed 8th Congressional District, which covers parts of Adams, Weld and Larimer counties.
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