Stay Informed Archives - Unite to Face Addiction Michigan

May 22, 2023

Tranq: Veterinary sedative making drug crisis deadlier

FILE – Deb Walker visits the grave of her daughter, Brooke Goodwin, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, in Chester, Vt. Goodwin, 23, died in March of 2021 of a fatal overdose of the powerful opioid fentanyl and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer that is making its way into the illicit drug supply. According to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, setting another tragic record in the nation’s escalating overdose epidemic. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File)

Xylazine is a sedative used by veterinarians and was never approved for human use. But experts say it’s the latest thing making a national drug crisis even deadlier.

Also known as tranq, it’s sometimes mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid – and the user doesn’t even know it.

Fentanyl mixed with tranq doesn’t respond to Narcon, or naloxone, a drug that can reverse a slowed respirat overdose deaths.

Dr. Stuart Etengoff, an emergency department physician at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac and McLaren Clarkston, a stand-alone emergency facility, says he has encountered numerous tranq overdoses, although they’re difficult to quantify.

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May 20, 2023May 20, 2023

CBS News Detroit

Detroit veteran recovery center needs funding to stay open

(CBS DETROIT) - Many of the men and women who help make our freedom possible are suffering.

According to veteranaddiction.org, 11% of our veterans are dealing with substance abuse disorders

In Detroit, one of the places working to bring that number down, is now in danger of closing its doors if the community doesn't step in to help.

CBS News Detroit Executive Producer Impacting Communities Amyre Makupson takes us inside the Emmanuel House on Detroit's west side.

"For years, I was in my addiction, and I punished myself. And I come here and I realize that I don't have to do that no more," said Gary Lee, a United States Air Force veteran.

Lee is battling addiction.

"I came back to enjoy civilian life for two weeks, discovered crack cocaine, and never heard of it didn't know what it was. A friend said try it, and never made it back."

"I came home in the 90s. So, veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq, they felt embraced when they came back. But the problem is, is that what happened over there? I, they have a difficulty getting over what happened," said fellow Air Force veteran Jason Marovich.

Lee and Marovich are among 33 veterans battling substance abuse after trauma during active duty at the Emmanuel House Veteran Recovery Program in Detroit. Both are now working toward sobriety.

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April 1, 2023

The FDA approves the overdose-reversing drug Narcan for over-the-counter sales

By Joe Hernandez

The overdose-reversing drug Narcan could soon be available to buy over the counter without a prescription, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.

The FDA's approval of the nasal spray Narcan — the brand name for the drug naloxone — means the medication could be more widely available across the U.S. as the country continues to grapple with an opioid epidemic.

"Today's action paves the way for the life-saving medication to reverse an opioid overdose to be sold directly to consumers in places like drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations, as well as online," the FDA said in a statement.

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