Xylazine Test Strips
Xylazine Test Strips
Xylazine (tranq, tranq dope, etc) is a powerful animal sedative. It is increasingly showing up in street drugs.
Xylazine test strips can detect the presence of xylazine in a small, diluted drug sample. We provide test kits to the public at no cost.
What is Xylazine (Tranq)?
Xylazine (known as tranq or tranq dope) is a non-opioid sedative used by veterinarians on large animals. Xylazine is not meant for human use, but is frequently found as a contaminant in the illicit drug supply. It’s most often mixed with fentanyl, but has also been discovered in cocaine, meth, heroin and other drugs.
Xylazine comes as a liquid for injection for veterinary use. In the illicit drug supply, it’s often seen as a white or brown powder or mixed with other powders. It can also be dried into a salt or pressed into pills.
Xylazine is hard to identify based on appearance alone.
Sources/Image Credit: NY State Dept of Health, NEXT Distro, DanceSafe, Christopher Moraff
Xylazine is a central nervous system depressant, it can cause:
- Drowsiness and heavy sedation
- Memory loss
- Slow breathing
- Low heart rate
- Dangerously low blood pressure
Xylazine is also known to cause distinct wounds, even beyond injection sites and in people who do not inject drugs.
Sources: MDH, NY State Dept of Health, Papudesi et. al, Zagorski et. al
National
- As of March 2023, fentanyl mixed with xylazine has been found in drug seizures in 48 states.
- The estimated number of xylazine-involved deaths in the US grew from 260 in 2018 to 3,480 in 2021, an increase of 1238%.
- In 2021, 99.1% of reported Xylazine-involved overdose deaths also involved fentanyl.
- Xylazine-involved overdoses are likely underestimated due to variation in death investigation, postmortem toxicology, death certificate reporting, and screening procedures.
Find National data and other resources at the CDC’s website.
Minnesota
- First known Xylazine-involved overdose deaths in MN were in 2019
- From 2019-2022 there were 70 reported OD deaths involving Xylazine in MN (2022 data is still preliminary).
- Fentanyl was present in 100% of all Xylazine-involved OD deaths in MN
Find Minnesota data at the Department of Health’s website.
Sources: MDH, National Center for Health Statistics, Cano et. al, CDC, Gupta et. al, Zagorski et. al
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Frequently Asked Questions
To use a xylazine test strip (XTS), you’ll add a little clean water to a small sample of the substance you’d like to test. Holding the orange part of the strip, dip the bottom part into the water/drug mixture you just prepared. After 2-5 minutes, you should see red lines appear on the strip. One red line means the substance tested POSITIVE for xylazine, two red lines is a NEGATIVE result (this is the opposite from a pregnancy or COVID-19 test).
For detailed instructions and more info on the test strips, check out our full instruction card.
Standard xylazine test strips cannot detect fentanyl, only xylazine. Some manufacturers do make special 2-in-1 strips that can provide results for both xylazine and fentanyl. These, however, are not the type of strips SRHN provides.
If you’d like to get some fentanyl test strips, visit any of our Naloxone Access Points to pick up a free test kit or visit our FTS page to learn more.
Xylazine is not an opioid, so naloxone will not reverse the effects of xylazine alone. It is still recommended to administer naloxone in suspected overdose situations, as data shows fentanyl was also involved in the majority of xylazine-involved overdoses. While it won’t work on xylazine, naloxone can address any symptoms or complications caused by concurrent opioid use.
It’s important to note that while naloxone may restore breathing by addressing the opioid overdose, it is possible for a person to remain unconscious due to the heavy sedative effect of the xylazine.
To learn more about overdose response and naloxone, take our training!
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