Street Connections said this sample of what’s believed to be a ‘down’ drug was found to contain a synthetic opioid similar to fentanyl, a benzodiazepine-related drug and medetomidine, an animal tranquilizer. Public health officials have issued an alert warning about the strong tranquilizer’s presence in Winnipeg’s drug supply. (Street Connections – image credit)
Public health officials are raising alarms about the presence of an animal tranquilizer in Winnipeg’s drug supply.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s mobile public health service, Street Connections, said in a drug alert last week that law enforcement recently seized a tablet shown to contain heroin and medetomidine, a tranquilizer approved only for animal use.
Medetomidine has been found in suspected opioid overdoses in several U.S. states, and it was first detected in Canada’s drug supply in 2021, according to an earlier alert in February.
The drug is 200-300 times stronger than “zombie drug” xylazine, another animal tranquilizer, health officials said. Street Connections said people who take it may not wake up for a long time and breathe slower, with the drug causing a severe and rapid heart rate reduction.
“The withdrawal can be really, really dangerous,” said Caleb Clay, who manages the mobile overdose prevention site for Winnipeg’s Sunshine House.
“There have been reports of people going into cardiac arrest or having different like heart-related events that make … coming off of that substance really hard.”
Clay said Sunshine House only learned about “MTD” a few months ago.
“We’ve been seeing it pop up more and more in the testing that we and other organizations around the city have been doing,” he said.
“It’s just really unfortunate to see … how pervasive it’s become, so quickly.”
Test strips being offered
Medetomidine concentrations of up to 5.5 per cent have recently been found in Winnipeg’s drug supply, according to the alert from February. It’s “nearly always” found in fentanyl, the alert said.
Health officials elsewhere across Canada have also issued recently warnings about the presence of the tranquilizer in their local drug supply, including in B.C.,Toronto, and Montreal.
Street Connections said naloxone can’t reverse the sedating effects, but it urged people who witness an overdose to still use the medicine since samples almost always contain opioids.
“If we know that somebody is going to be detoxing or coming off of MTD [we] advise them to go to the emergency room, because they’re likely to have an adverse medical event,” Clay said. “It’s terrifying.”
Clay suggested that anyone who’s using drugs should get them tested. He said Sunshine House and other organizations are offering specialized test strips for medetomidine as part of a pilot.
The test strips are also being piloted at Street Connections and at Nine Circles.