18.10.2026 14:51
According to what BBC reported from Ohio and Chicago, animal tranquilizers mixed with fentanyl and synthetic substances produced in homes in the US are deepening the overdose crisis again. The overdose antidote naloxone remains ineffective against these mixtures.
According to BBC News, the drug crisis in the US has entered a new phase: synthetic substances that can be produced in basements and bathrooms have created a situation where no one can know what is in the drugs sold on the street. BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville spoke with users, dealers, prison officials and people recovering from addiction in Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago.
Fentanyl, produced entirely in laboratories, is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin. Street fentanyl is now also being mixed with sedatives developed for cattle such as xylazine and medetomidine. These substances slow breathing and do not respond to naloxone, the nasal spray that saves lives in overdose cases. Xylazine also causes hard-to-treat wounds that can reach down to the bone.
Overdose deaths in the US peaked at about 110,000 in 2022 and fell to around 70,000 last year. However, according to experts, the crisis is not over; it has only changed form. Scott Sanders, who runs the Hope Dealers group supporting people recovering from addiction in Columbus, said that in the past 12 months, 78 percent of fatal overdoses in the area were caused by stimulants: "The real tragedy is this: users who think they are buying cocaine are actually taking fentanyl or other opioid mixtures and unknowingly experiencing an overdose."
At the Cook County jail in Chicago, drugs are brought inside by being soaked into book pages and letters. At the jail, where normally one or two overdose deaths occur per year, 8 inmates using synthetic cannabinoids died after suffering seizures in 2023. Now every letter and package coming into the jail is scanned for moisture; between a quarter and a fifth of them are turned away.
A dealer who sells fentanyl on behalf of Mexican cartels and asked to remain anonymous said that although the US administration has declared the cartels terrorist organizations, the supply chain is as strong as ever: "If it doesn't go over the wall, it goes under it. This business is about adapting." According to the dealer, what synthetics can do is "not even the tip of the iceberg yet."
Tom Dart, who has been Cook County sheriff for 20 years, also stated that there is no one who can say the fight against drugs has been successful: "Everything that used to be strong came across the border. Now people can produce it in their homes, in their sinks, in their bathtubs." According to Dart, a lasting solution depends not only on cutting supply but on focusing on addiction treatment.
Source: BBC