United Kingdom Parliament moves to ban xylazine

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The United Kingdom’s Parliament has been presented with legislation to ban 22 drugs, including the veterinary sedative xylazine, that are deemed dangerous. The act is a way for the UK’s government to help impede drug deaths and "crack down on drug dealing gangs," according to a UK government news release.¹

Xylazine, which is commonly referred to as tranq, has increasingly been used in combination with opioids as a less expensive way to stretch out each taken dose, but it has also been found within cannabis vapes, according to the release.¹ In the US, the CDC has reported that drug overdose deaths that involved xylazine have been found to be gradually increasing, from 102 in 2018 to 627 in 2019, 1499 in 2020, and 3468 in 2021.²

The investigators from the CDC study also disclosed that drug overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from 0.03 per 100,000 standard population in 2018 to 1.06 in 2021. A statutory instrument, that followed a recommendation from the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, was laid in Parliament in September 2024 to control xylazine as a class C Drug.

“We have seen what has happened in other countries when the use of these drugs is allowed to grow out of control, and this is why we are among the first countries to take action and protect our communities from these dangerous new drugs,” Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson, said in the release.¹

Xylazine is just one of 22 other harmful substances that would be banned under this legislation, which also includes 6 that will be controlled as a Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Anyone that is caught producing or supplying Class A drugs could face an unlimited fine, life in prison, or both. Besides the 6 Class A drugs, there will be 6 controlled as Class C drugs. If anyone is caught producing or supplying these drugs, they could face an unlimited fine, a prison sentence up to 14 years, or both.¹

In the US, The White House designated xylazine combined with fentanyl as an emerging drug threat in April 2023. This declaration enabled the implementation of an action plan at the federal level to fight against the threat and could often lead to scheduling a drug as a controlled substance. Currently, multiple states have issued their own bans including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.¹

Under the proposed legislation, xylazine would remain available for veterinary prescribing in the UK, but it will only be available if lawfully prescribed and will be illegal to possess or supply except in accordance with a lawful prescription or under a Home Office controlled drug license, according to the release.¹ “One of this new government’s central missions is to make our streets safer, and we will not accept the use of substances that put lives at risk and allow drug gangs to profit from exploiting vulnerable people,” said Johnson.¹

“The criminals who produce, distribute and profit from these drugs will therefore face the full force of the law, and the changes being introduced this week will also make it easier to crack down on those suppliers who are trying to circumvent our controls,” she concluded.¹

References

1. Britain takes decisive action to ban 'zombie drug' xylazine. News release. Gov.UK. September 4, 2024. Accessed September 11, 2024. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-takes-decisive-action-to-ban-zombie-drug-xylazine#:~:text=Following%20a%20recommendation%20from%20the,world%20affected%20by%20xylazine%20abuse.
2. Spencer M, Cisewski J, Warner M, Garnett M. Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Xylazine: United States, 2018–2021.; 2023. Accessed September 11, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr030.pdf