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Sarah Laurel, a harm-reduction professional, sat behind her desk and asked the man who walked into her store how much he’d been paid to be in a viral video she’d recently watched. The man was an active substance user, struggling with addiction, who had probably taken drugs on the streets of Kensington, Philadelphia, earlier that morning. His answer was $50. Sarah laughed and said that was more than usual. Since 2021, Kensington, a low-income neighborhood in North Philadelphia, has been ground zero for a new and dangerous sedative called “tranq”. Also known as “xylazine”, a side-effect of this drug can...

Philadelphia businesses are being forced to set up booby traps like hidden sprinkler systems to fend off drug users. Local activist Frank Rodriguez has revealed that business owners in the Kensington area of the city are having to devise tricks to keep addicts off their stoops. The neighborhood has become ground zero for the city's drug epidemic, and is frequently seen strewn with trash and addicts injecting drugs in the open. Speaking to Fox News, Rodriguez said: 'Businesses end up throwing soapy water on the ground just so it is wet and it is not a comfortable place to sit...

Tranq — a k a xylazine, the so-called zombie drug that leaves users psychotic and covered with open, rotting wounds — is taking over New York’s drug supply. As the DEA agent who oversees operations in New York put it, “Tranq can end up anywhere, at any time, and can kill anyone.” It’s found in a hideous 15% of all drugs tested by the DEA for the northeast, and more than 85% of the drugs containing tranq also contain another major killer: fentanyl. How on earth did we get here? Thank your local progressive pol.

Shocking footage has revealed the scale of Philadelphia's untamed 'tranq' epidemic, which has transformed the city's streets into a drug-infested hellhole. The Kensington neighborhood - known as 'ground zero' for the city's drug crisis - is seen littered with zombie-like addicts, with many shamelessly shooting up in broad daylight. Gruesome scenes in the 'City of Brotherly Love' show droves of homeless addicts aimlessly staggering through the streets, surrounded by tents and scattered trash.

Horrific footage shows the devastating toll the “tranq” drug epidemic has had on addicts in Philadelphia. The Kensington neighborhood — made infamous by its open-air drug market — is seen completely packed with the slumped-over and passed-out drug users in the video posted to TikTok by urbanvisuals2.0. The harrowing clip comes as the “City of Brother Love” struggles with the rising use of the drug Xylazine, or “tranq,” which is a deadly sedative used to enhance the effects of heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. The drug is so potent the White House recently declared it an “emerging threat.”Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director...

About five years ago, xylazine—a non-opioid sedative used in veterinary medicine—made its way to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico. Although not approved for human use, xylazine by itself is nowhere near as deadly as fentanyl or other strong opioids. However, when mixed with fentanyl as a low-cost cutting agent, the combination is particularly dangerous. Due to its use as a veterinary tranquilizer, xylazine is easily accessible. Also known as “tranq,” the sedative causes depressed breathing, lower blood pressure and heart rate, unconsciousness and necrosis that may lead to amputation—hence its “zombie drug” nickname. In 2021, researchers linked xylazine to 1 in...

When emergency personnel arrived to the apartment, they found two deceased and one 'critically ill,' the Syracuse Fire Department said in a press release. While authorities waited for the medical examiner to arrive on scene, police officers began to feel ill within 30 minutes of exposure, citing nausea and accelerated heart rates - both, of which, are symptoms of a tranq overdoses. .... while at the hospital, while the four were being 'decontaminated,' 'several hospital personnel also began feeling ill,' the fire department said. Upon this realization, the ER was shut down for more than two hours to 'manage the...

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood is known as an open air drug market. "It is the biggest open air drug market on the East Coast. You literally can just walk up on a block and cop whatever substance you like," said James Sherman a former user who is now focused on street outreach with the nonprofit Savage Sisters Recovery. Now, the area in North Philadelphia is at the center of the Tranq epidemic, hit hard by the emerging misuse of the animal tranquilizer Xylazine. The drug is leaving hundreds of users in Philadelphia with gruesome wounds that could lead to...