Flesh-rotting zombie drug Tranq banned

Tranq, the flesh-rotting “zombie” drug found in vapes, has been banned in the UK.

Laws came into force on Wednesday to make the powerful animal tranquiliser xylazine a class C drug – as well as 21 other dangerous substances illegal, the Home Office said.

Tougher restrictions on synthetic opioid nitazene and its derivatives have also been introduced as data suggested there had been at least 400 drug-related deaths linked to the substance across the UK since June 2023.

Government officials said the figure is expected to rise in the coming years.

Border Force dogs

The UK has also become the first country in the world to train Border Force dogs to detect nitazenes and fentanyl in a bid to stop supply from overseas, according to the Home Office.

Meanwhile police officers have now been trained to carry and administer naloxone – a lifesaving medicine that reverses the effects of opioid overdose – with the Government hoping this will now happen in most of the country’s forces.

Xylazine has “increasingly been used in combination with opioids such as heroin as a cheap means of stretching out each dose” as well as being found in cannabis vapes, the Home Office previously said.

The sedative claimed the life of a 43-year-old man in Solihull, West Midlands, in 2022 – and experts have since warned of its use becoming widespread in the UK.

Factory worker Karl Warburton, who had been referred to addiction services, took heroin which was laced with fentanyl and xylazine, which a coroner determined was a contributing factor in his death.

It comes after use of the drug swept across the United States, with the number of overdoses linked to its use soaring within three years from 102 in 2018 to 3,468 in 2021.

Rotting flesh

The drug gained its zombie nickname because it lowers the heart and breathing rate to dangerous levels, often rendering users seemingly lifeless in the street, and can cause large patches of rotting flesh to erupt on skin when injected.

The Home Office took steps to instigate the ban in the wake of recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). But this is yet to happen in the US, Canada, Mexico or other countries where the substance is prevalent.

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “Synthetic drugs cause devastation wherever they are found – to individuals, to families, to our town centres and our communities.

“I have been concerned about the growing presence of these drugs on UK streets and I don’t think enough has been done in recent years to get a grip on it.

“Stepping up efforts to tackle this threat will form a key part of this Government’s approach to drugs, which we hope to set out later this year.”

Six other drugs will be made class A drugs, under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, meaning dealers and users could face being jailed for life, an unlimited fine, or both.

Another 15 will be made class C drugs, resulting in a prison sentence of up to 14 years, an unlimited fine, or both, for anyone caught producing or supplying them.

Among these are new variations of the synthetic opioids nitazene.

Minor adjustments

The changes first announced last year – which came into force after parliamentary approval – also include a general definition in a bid to stop gangs trying to make minor adjustments to nitazene compounds to bypass UK laws.

National Crime Agency (NCA) director general Graeme Biggar previously warned there had never been a more dangerous time to be taking drugs as he raised concerns about a “significant” number of deaths linked to “incredibly strong” nitazenes.

AP-237, AP-238, Azaprocin, para-methyl-AP-237, para-nitroazaprocin, and 2-Methyl-AP-237 will be made class A drugs.

While Bentazepam, Bretazenil, 4’-Chloro-deschloroalprazolam, Clobromazolam, Cloniprazepam, Desalkylgidazepam, Deschloroclotizolam, Difludiazepam, Flubrotizolam, Fluclotizolam, Fluetizolam, Gidazepam, Methylclonazepam, Rilmazafone, Thionordazepam, as well as xylazine, will be made class C drugs.

Vets will still be able to legally prescribe xylazine but it will be an offence to possess or supply it for other means without a lawful prescription or under a Home Office controlled drugs licence.