Government to ban flesh-rotting ‘zombie’ drug found in vapes

A flesh-rotting “zombie” drug used in vapes is to be banned by the Government.

The Home Office is to table legislation that will ban xylazine, which is used by addicts to strengthen drugs, and 21 other dangerous illegal substances as part of its efforts to prevent deaths and clampdown on drug dealing gangs.

Xylazine, often known as “tranq”, is a high-strength veterinary sedative and has swept the United States, where it has been linked to nearly 3,500 deaths. The drug is now “widespread” in the UK, according to experts.

It has also been found in vapes which some illicit drug takers use for cannabis.

Immobilised in the street

Its effects on long-term users – often leaving them immobilised in the street, and prone to non-healing skin lesions – have led to its characterisation as the “zombie drug”.

Research by King’s College national substance abuse team found that at least 11 people in the UK have died from taking xylazine since the first death of a 43-year-old man from Solihull in May 2022.

Xylazine-involved overdose deaths in the United States rose from 102 to 3,468 in just three years between 2018 and 2021.

It was designated an “emerging drug threat” by the White House in April 2023, which often precedes classifying a drug as illegal.

Xylazine has been increasingly used in combination with opioids such as heroin and fentanyl as a cheap means of stretching out each dose.

Under the new legislation, it will now be classified as a class C drug, which means possession for personal use will carry a sentence of up to two years in jail. Dealing the drug will carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Britain is believed to be the first country to ban the drug – a step that has not yet been taken in the United States, Canada, Mexico or other countries in the world affected by xylazine abuse.

Some individual US states, including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, have implemented bans.

‘Profit from exploiting vulnerable people’

Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said: “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.

“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.

“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.”

Xylazine is one of 22 harmful substances that will be banned under the new legislation, six of which will be controlled as class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Anyone caught producing or supplying these class A drugs could face up to life in prison, an unlimited fine or both.

Synthetic opioids

Amongst the drugs covered by the legislation are variations of nitazenes, highly addictive synthetic opioids, which can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin and therefore carry an increased risk of accidental overdose.

The statutory instrument will also introduce into law a new generic definition of nitazenes, which will prevent drug gangs attempting to use minor adjustments to their synthetic compound to try to bypass UK drug laws. The changes are expected to come into force later this year or in early 2025 depending on the parliamentary process.