Animal tranquilizer emerging as latest deadly drug addiction mix
It’s the new silent killer in Mississippi.
Since 2020, the state has seen at least 27 overdose deaths from the animal tranquilizer xylazine, either alone or combined with fentanyl, said Col. Steven Maxwell, director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
“It’s a crisis,” he said. “We’re not experiencing the crisis as much as places like Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco and Los Angeles, but we are experiencing a crisis with regard to the lacing of fentanyl with other drugs, such as xylazine.”
The number of drug overdose deaths in Mississippi have nearly tripled since 2018, reaching 754 in 2021, according to the most recent state Department of Health statistics. The overdose deaths of Black Mississippians have catapulted from 37 to 165.
Nationwide, drug overdose deaths have doubled between 2015 and 2022, according to provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, now make up more than two-thirds of those fatalities.
At HMP Global’s recent RX Summit in Atlanta, Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, announced that his office had designated the fentanyl-xylazine mix as an emerging drug threat.
“If you thought fentanyl was dangerous and deadly before, it has become even more lethal and destructive now,” he said. “We all must act.”
Xylazine is a non-opioid animal tranquilizer, typically administered by veterinarians to horses, cattle, deer, elk and moose.
Illicit use of the sedative has been skyrocketing in recent years. In 2015, the drug was involved in 2% of overdose deaths in Pennsylvania; now it’s involved in more than a fourth of those deaths.
The biggest growth has come in the South, which saw the highest increase in seizures of xylazine (193%) between 2020 and 2021, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“Xylazine is not safe for human consumption,” Gupta said, “and it has potentially deadly consequences when used.”
Advocacy groups such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education have called xylazine “worse than fentanyl,” which is already involved in more deaths of Americans under 50 than any cause of death, including heart disease, cancer, homicide, suicide and other accidents, according to the DEA.
Because xylazine is designated for use in animals that may weigh significantly more than the average American, the effects on the human body are far greater, said William Lynch, a New Jersey clinical pharmacist who spoke at the RX Summit.
Xylazine not only slows breathing and the heart rate, but can cause the blood pressure to plummet, especially when used in combination with fentanyl, he said. In addition, users injecting the drug can develop severe skin ulcers that can resemble horrific burns, leading to skin grafts, possible amputation or even death.
When someone overdoses on fentanyl, emergency responders can use naloxone to try and revive that person. But when someone overdoses on a combination of fentanyl and xylazine, the naloxone has no effect on the xylazine, Lynch said. But it should still be given to reverse the effects of fentanyl, he said.
If naloxone does revive someone, “they have to go to the hospital,” because they could suffer from what he called “flashback pulmonary edema. They could possibly stop breathing and essentially drown in their sleep from fluid that accumulates in the lungs.”
On the streets, xylazine alone is known as “tranq,” or “tranq dope” when it’s mixed with fentanyl, he said. Experts say both dealers and drug users may mix the pair to prolong the opioid high.
Fentanyl has virtually replaced heroin on the streets because of its price tag, he said. While heroin costs about $23,000 a pound, according to a 2020 study, fentanyl is 10 times cheaper. Xylazine can run less than $10 a pound, according to a DEA report.
With regard to the suspected heroin seized in New Jersey, he said, 98% tested positive for fentanyl; only 2% had heroin alone. In New Jersey in 2022, of the 98% drug seizures that tested positive for fentanyl, 36% of those samples tested positive for xylazine.
In nearby Philadelphia, xylazine is supplanting fentanyl. In seizures there, Lynch said, there are 24 parts of xylazine to every one part of fentanyl, and the purity of the xylazine has gone up while the purity of the fentanyl has gone down.
Xylazine has long been easy to obtain, he said, and anyone could have had it delivered to their homes, not just veterinarians. To combat this, the FDA recently started tracking xylazine shipments.
Because it can be purchased cheaply in a powder or liquid form, dealers can mix this sedative with other drugs, which makes fatal overdoses a real possibility, he said.
Unlike fentanyl, xylazine isn’t illegal, which means there are no laws that give police the power to arrest.
Making xylazine a controlled substance would enable authorities to arrest those possessing or trafficking xylazine, Maxwell said. “It would be treated like any illicit drug.”
To attack this problem, governors in Ohio and Pennsylvania have declared xylazine a controlled substance. There is also a push in Congress to make it a controlled substance federally and also in some state legislatures, although not so far in Mississippi.
Asked if Gov. Tate Reeves supports the state making xylazine a controlled substance, Press Secretary Shelby Wilcher replied that there is currently legislation pending in Congress that would make the drug a Schedule 3 substance under federal schedules.
“The Office of the Governor works closely with the Mississippi Department of Health and Mississippi Department of Public Safety on an annual basis to update the state’s drug schedules,” she said. “Xylazine will certainly be part of the discussion.”
Lynch said one advantage to taking this step is veterinarians and their practices would be required to track the drug, just as they do with opioids and other controlled substances they use. “If you ever waste any of it,” he said, “you have to document the destruction with a witness.”
One concern about making xylazine a controlled substance is how it might affect veterinarians, who have used the sedative for half a century, said Bill Epperson, professor and head of the Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
The drug is typically used for pain relief and to “calm fractious animals,” he said. “There is not a good substitute for xylazine in large animal general practice.”
Given that veterinarians have used xylazine responsibly for decades, the drug should still be used “to support the legitimate practice of veterinary medicine,” he said. “We are strongly in favor of harsh penalties for those suppliers engaged in illicit activity.”
In March, Congress introduced the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, which would make illicit use of xylazine fall under Schedule III penalties and allow legitimate veterinary use to continue. The American Veterinary Medical Association supports the bill.
Lynch warned that xylazine “is just the drug de jure,” and others are certain to follow. For example, he said, the synthetic opioid isotonitazene (known as “ISO”) “is approximately three times more potent than fentanyl and has already been seen in New Jersey and other parts of the country.”
This ever-changing chemistry puts authorities “in the position of playing whack-a-mole,” with new synthetic drugs certain to follow, Maxwell said. “We’ve got to find a way to loop in any lethal cocktail or any drug that’s enhanced beyond its potency.”
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With basically his career on line, Jackson’s Wilson Furr came through
Twenty-four-year-old professional golfer Wilson Furr, from Jackson, made national news two times recently for all together different reasons.
Stay with me here. As so often happens in the perplexing sport of golf, this gets complicated.
Furr plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA’s Class AAA, which means he plays golf better than 99.99% of people who ever take up the sport. But it also means he is trying to perfect his game to an elite level where he can join that .01 percent that play for millions upon millions on the PGA Tour.
On April 21, Furr was playing and playing well in the second round of the Lecom Suncoast Classic at Lakewood Ranch, Fla. It was an ultra-important round for Furr who needed to make the cut and make some money in order to retain his exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Furr and his two playing partners played the back nine first that day. They finished the 18th hole and began a long walk to the first tee.
“There was a shuttle waiting just behind the bleachers and skyboxes on the 18th green, the same exact kind of shuttle that took us from the driving range to the 10th tee,” Furr said.
One of Furr’s partners asked if the driver if he was going to the first tee, and he said, “Sure, jump in.”
They did. Furr was playing well, in good shape to make the cut. After 12 holes, he was four under par. The trio hit their drives on the fourth hole when a rules official showed up and asked if they had taken a ride from the 18th green to the first tee. Yes, they said, they had.
“That’s a two-shot penalty,” they were told.
Making a cruel and long story short, the two-shot penalty turned a 67 into a second straight 69 for Furr. He missed the cut.
He was hurt. He was angry. He felt almost as if he (and five other golfers) had been set up or almost framed. The penalized golfers pleaded their case to rules officials but to no avail. Instead of being exempt for all Korn Ferry events, Furr thought missing the cut meant that he would have to Monday qualify to get into tournaments for the rest of the year. That’s next to impossible. For example, for the next week’s Home Town Lenders Championship at Huntsville, Ala., 150 golfers teed up on Monday, playing for only four spots.
Surprisingly, Furr wasn’t in that number. Several exempt players, for whatever reason, decided not to play in Huntsville. Furr got in. He shot even-par 70 amid difficult conditions in the first round. Rain shortened the tournament to 54 holes. Furr found himself in the same position as the week before. He needed a really good second round to make the cut. And, frankly, his job was on the line.
Anyone who plays golf knows that pressure mounts as the stakes go up. Just imagine playing for your livelihood. That’s essentially what Furr was doing.
Because of all the bad weather, Furr didn’t tee off for the second round until mid-afternoon on Saturday. He badly needed to make some birdies. Boy, did he.
Furr was six under par through 10 holes when it became too dark to continue. On Sunday morning, he took up where he left off and eventually shot a nine-under-par 61, a course record, to make the cut. Later Sunday, he shot a solid, even par 70 to finish in a tie for seventh and secure his playing privileges for the remainder of the year.
Yes, he still needs to play extremely well to graduate from the Korn Ferry to the PGA Tour. At least now, he has a fighting chance.
The Korn Ferry’s next tournament will be this weekend at Kansas City. Furr will tee off almost as if he has a new lease on life. While he plays the Korn Ferry Tour, he keeps up with his Mississippi buddies on the PGA Tour. Davis Riley, his former Alabama teammate from Hattiesburg, recently got his first win. Hayden Buckley of Belden has won more than $2.6 million this year. Chad Ramey of Tupelo has won more than $780,000.
“They’re doing great, and I’m pulling for them,” Furr said. At the same time, he wants to join them and seeing what they’re doing gives him confidence – and motivation.
“I’ve played a lot of golf with them,” Furr said. “I know their games and I know mine. It lets me know where I stand, makes it seem all the more possible that I can play out there and be successful.”
Yes, but he’s got to get there first. Shooting 61, essentially with his career on the line, was a start. Given all the circumstances, it shows he has the right stuff.
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On this day in 1928
MAY 9, 1928
Burl Toler was born in Memphis. The first Black official in any major sport in the U.S., he defeated prejudice at each turn.
In 1951, Toler starred for the legendary undefeated University of San Francisco Dons. Prejudice kept the integrated team from playing in the Gator Bowl, but the team found success anyway. Nine players went to the NFL, three of them later inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Their best player may have been Toler, who was drafted by Cleveland but suffered a severe knee injury in a college all-star game that ended his playing days.
Toler decided to make his way into professional football through officiating. The NFL hired him in 1965 — a year before Emmett Ashford became the first Black umpire in Major League Baseball and three years before Jackie White broke the color barrier in the NBA.
He rose above the racism he encountered, working as a head linesman and field judge for a quarter-century. He officiated Super Bowl XIV, where the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams in 1980. Two years later, he officiated the “Freezer Bowl,” where the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship Game. The game marked the coldest temperatures of any game in NFL history — minus 59 degrees wind chill — and Toler suffered frostbite.
In addition to his NFL work, he worked as an educator, becoming the first Black secondary school principal in the San Francisco district. He died in 2009. Two area schools and a hall on the University of San Francisco campus have been renamed in his honor. On Nov. 23, 2020, Toler was remembered again when the NFL had its first all-Black officiating crew.
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Anna Wolfe and Mississippi Today win Pulitzer Prize for “The Backchannel” investigation
Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for her remarkable investigation “The Backchannel,” which uncovered the depth of the sprawling $77 million welfare scandal, the largest embezzlement of federal funds in the state’s history.
The investigation, published in a multi-part series in 2022, revealed for the first time how former Gov. Phil Bryant used his office to steer the spending of millions of federal welfare dollars — money intended to help the state’s poorest residents — to benefit his family and friends, including NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.
Mississippi Today’s entire staff and several supporters gathered at Hal & Mal’s in downtown Jackson for the announcement on Monday afternoon and erupted in celebration when the news was announced.
“Anna Wolfe deserves this for so many reasons,” said Adam Ganucheau, editor-in-chief at Mississippi Today. “The late nights she spent poring through spreadsheets, the sheer number of roadblocks she faced from state officials, the thoughtfulness and care she put into her writing, the passion she always has for helping Mississippians — it’s been the absolute honor of my life to get an up-close look at how hard she works and how much she cares about our state.”
Wolfe, a 28-year-old Washington state native who has worked her entire professional journalism career in Mississippi, reported for more than five years on what would become “The Backchannel,” logging thousands of hours of source work and interviewing for the project. When she heard that she’d won the Pulitzer — broadly considered the nation’s top journalistic achievement — she focused her thoughts on the Mississippians she’s covered.
“This award not only recognizes underdog reporting in an under-resourced part of the country,” Wolfe said. “It says to Mississippians who have long been subjected to systemic government corruption that their experiences are valid and they deserve better.”
READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s complete “The Backchannel” investigation
Before national news covered the welfare scandal, Mississippi Today exposed it first.
Sign up for our free daily newsletter to get the latest updates on the welfare scandal.
Mississippi Today joins a growing number of nonprofit, online newsrooms to win the award over the past decade. Notably, Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize this year is just one of a handful of Pulitzers awarded to a nonprofit newsroom focused on local news as compared to outlets focused on single-topic or national issues.
“Today’s win belongs to everyone who has supported our nonprofit newsroom since our 2016 launch,” said Mary Margaret White, CEO at Mississippi Today. “We would not be celebrating a Pulitzer Prize without the support of thousands of Mississippians who share our belief that an informed Mississippi is a stronger Mississippi. My sincere gratitude and respect goes to Anna Wolfe and the team at Mississippi Today for their dedication to truth and accountability, and to all of the grant makers and donors who steadfastly champion the impact of local journalism.”
The 2023 Pulitzer for Mississippi Today is the seventh awarded to a Mississippi news outlet in the history of the prizes. It is the first awarded to an online-only newsroom in the state’s history.
The Sun Herald won a Pulitzer in 2006 for its coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; the Clarion Ledger won in 1983 for its successful campaign supporting Gov. William Winter in his legislative battle for public education reform; Hazel Brannon Smith of the Lexington Advertiser won in 1964 for a series of powerful local editorials; Ira B. Harkey of the Pascagoula Chronicle won in 1963 for a series of editorials about the state’s school integration crisis; the Vicksburg Sunday Post-Herald won in 1954 for its coverage of a devastating tornado; and Hodding Carter II, esteemed editor of The Delta Democrat-Times, won in 1946 for a group of editorials published on the subject of racial, religious and economic intolerance.
“I hope this Pulitzer Prize recognition serves as a reminder that we at Mississippi Today are here to serve this state for years and years to come,” Ganucheau said. “We are Mississippians who love this beautiful, complicated state and care deeply about its future. We’re proud to champion all the good of our state, and we’re emboldened to provide the accountability journalism that our state needs and deserves. We take seriously our responsibility to be the eyes and ears of taxpayers who may not have the ability or access to ask big, critical questions. We will always press our elected officials to ensure they’re living up to their responsibilities and using their platforms for good and not for corruption. We’re fearless, we’re resilient, and we’re here for the long, long haul.”
The Pulitzer Prize is the most prominent award earned by Mississippi Today, the state’s flagship nonprofit newsroom that was founded in 2016. The newsroom and its journalists have won several national awards in recent years, including: two Goldsmith Prizes for Investigative Reporting; a 2022 Sidney Award for its thorough coverage of the Jackson water crisis; a Collier Prize for State Government Accountability; and the John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award.
Mississippi Today and its staff have also won dozens of regional and statewide prizes, including dozens of Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Awards; several Mississippi Press Association awards for excellence, including a Bill Minor Prizes for Investigative Reporting; and the 2023 Silver Em Award at University of Mississippi.
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Read Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series ‘The Backchannel’
Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for her remarkable investigation “The Backchannel,” which exposed former Gov. Phil Bryant’s role in the state’s welfare scandal.
Wolfe’s investigation was the culmination of more than five years of reporting on the Mississippi welfare agency, which is tasked with helping the poorest residents of America’s poorest state. When she found in 2017 that only a fraction of Mississippians who applied for direct cash assistance were receiving it, she wondered how, instead, the state was spending hundreds of millions in federal grants designed to help those people.
READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s complete “The Backchannel” investigation
Through dozens of records requests and hundreds of interviews over the past several years, Wolfe uncovered misspending of those federal funds. And, after a tipster leaked thousands of private, never-before-seen text messages between Bryant and key players in the scandal, Wolfe was able to piece together the former governor’s role.
Among the findings of “The Backchannel” investigation:
- Bryant was set, just days after leaving office, to receive stock in a Favre-affiliated drug company that had received state welfare dollars.
- Favre pressed Mississippi welfare officials to steer taxpayer funds to his pet projects — one of which he planned to profit from.
- Bryant helped Favre secure welfare funding for USM volleyball stadium.
- Bryant wielded great control over how his appointed welfare director distributed federal funds, even turning to that welfare director to seek help for his troubled nephew.
Click the links below to read the entire “The Backchannel” investigation.
Part 1: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre
Part 1A: ‘You stuck your neck out for me’: Brett Favre used fame and favors to pull welfare dollars
Part 2: ‘My Governor is counting on me’: Disgraced welfare director bowed to Phil Bryant’s wishes
Part 3: Governing by text: Phil Bryant’s hidden hand picked welfare winners
Part 4: Phil Bryant’s star-powered selfies and slick brochures didn’t Save the Children
Part 5: Family first: Gov. Phil Bryant turned to welfare officials to rescue troubled nephew
Part 6: Gov. Tate Reeves inspired welfare payment targeted in civil suit, texts show
Before national news covered the welfare scandal, Mississippi Today exposed it first.
Sign up for our free daily newsletter to get the latest updates on the welfare scandal.
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Hospital safety group releases ratings for Mississippi hospitals
Eleven Mississippi hospitals have received an “A” safety score from nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, while the state’s largest hospital received a “C” for the fifth year in a row.
The group hands out the biannual grades to about 3,000 general acute-care hospitals nationwide based on how they protect patients from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Hospitals’ performances on more than 30 national metrics from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and other data determine each health care organization’s score.
No Mississippi Hospitals scored an “F,” but Merit Health Biloxi scored a “D,” the same it received in December. The grade is dictated by a hospital’s performance in infections, problems with surgery, safety problems, practices to prevent errors, and doctors, nurses and hospital staff.
Merit Health Biloxi, for example, scored worse than average compared to other hospitals in the rate of infections developed among patients, such as sepsis after surgeries.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only academic medical center, scored a “C.” The report highlights that UMMC has worse than average performance compared to other hospitals in deaths from surgical complications, split-open surgical wounds, blood infections, and patient falls. The report also noted the hospital did not have enough qualified nurses on staff.
Neither UMMC or Merit Health Biloxi officials responded to a request for comment for the story.
Leapfrog reported that nationwide, 29% of hospitals received an “A,” 26% a “B,” and 39% a “C.”
Less than 1% got an “F” and 6% received a “D.”
The risk of three infections commonly associated with hospital stays – including MRSA, central-line blood infections, and catheter-related urinary tract infections – spiked to a 5-year high during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains high in its latest report, according to Leapfrog.
“Infections like these can be life or death for some patients,” Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said in a statement. “We recognize the tremendous strain the pandemic put on hospitals and their workforce, but alarming findings like these indicate hospitals must recommit to patient safety and build more resilience.”
Here is the breakdown of grades for Mississippi hospitals:
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On this day in 1969
MAY 8, 1969
Members of the Black Psychiatrists of America interrupted the breakfast of the trustees of the American Psychiatric Association. The Black psychiatrists shared a list of demands that included a rise in Black leadership, a call to desegregate mental health facilities and a rule to bar psychiatrists guilty of racial discrimination.
Their founding president, Charles Pierce, was especially concerned about television: “American homes have more television sets than bathtubs, refrigerators or telephones; 95 percent of American homes have television sets.”
Convinced that the way to change young hearts would be through television, he became a senior adviser for a new educational show for preschoolers known as “Sesame Street,” which featured a racially diverse cast. “Sesame Street” would go on to become one of the most successful shows of all time, creating iconic characters that resonate to this day.
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Mississippi Stories: Dorlisa Hutton
In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Dorlisa Hutton, Chief Operations Officer for SR1. SR1 is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose missions to provide education, health and technology to all through science and partnership.
SR1 provides college access and success services by using their evidence based education model. Students are provided academic skills, social skills, family and relationship skills, recreation, civic literacy. Founded in 2005 by CEO Tamu Green, SR1 has served hundreds of children across Mississippi. Soon, SR1 CPSA will be opening in Canton, Mississippi the first STEM Charter School in Mississippi.
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