Santa Cruz County officials confirm first 'tranq'-related overdose death
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY -- A 35-year-old woman who died in early June has been confirmed as Santa Cruz County's first death related to xylazine use, according to county health officials.
Xylazine, also known as "tranq" or the "zombie drug," is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer that is making its way into the country's illicit drug supply, often being combined with opioids like heroin and fentanyl to extend the euphoric effects of those drugs, according to officials with the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency.
The county Medical Examiner-Coroner's postmortem toxicology results showed the woman, who died in Santa Cruz, tested positive for xylazine and fentanyl, according to health officials.
"This tragic event is an important alert to the community that xylazine is confirmed to be present in drugs in Santa Cruz County," Dr. David Ghilarducci, the county's EMS medical director, said in a news release Wednesday.
"Fentanyl, alone, is extraordinarily dangerous and is devastating communities across the country. The addition of xylazine compounds the risk of street drugs," Ghilarducci said.
Santa Cruz is not the first local county where xylazine has appeared. In February, San Francisco health officials announced the drug appeared in the bloodstreams of four fatal fentanyl overdose victims. Since then both Santa Clara County and Sonoma County have reported similar deaths.
If someone is unresponsive, call 911, administer naloxone and perform rescue breathing. While naloxone doesn't reverse the overdose effects of xylazine, it is effective in treating overdoses of opioids.
People can seek treatment for substance use can contact their doctor or call the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division at (800) 953-2335