“THIS stuff’s rocket fuel. Anyone out there doing ket has to know this stuff’s around now. I just feel lucky to be alive.”
These are the words of a 16-year-old whose traumatising ordeal at the hands of ‘rhino tranq’ caused her to jump out of an open window, leaving her with broken bones – as the terrifying drug that has ravaged America is smuggled into ketamine batches on the shores of Britain.
A street drug dubbed ‘Rhino Tranq’ is causing fresh misery on the streets of US cities like PhiladelphiaCredit: Getty
Zombie drugs have hit the States hard, with scenes of users passed out in parksCredit: Getty
Medetomidine, the official name of the powerful sedative used by vets, is 200 times as potent as the ‘zombie drug’ xylazine, known as ‘tranq’.
Most concerningly, overdoses cannot be quickly reversed by injections and at the end of last year, healthcare workers in the United States started warning about deaths caused by medetomidine.
And now it is spreading through Britain, with reckless dealers adding the deadly substance to other drugs – predominantly ketamine – as a cheap way to boost sales amongst young users, who’ve been dubbed ‘Gen Ket’.
Medetomidine, sometimes referred to as ‘med’ or ‘dex’ as well as ‘rhino tranq’, appears to be taking hold in the North West of England, with multiple agencies telling people to beware.
The problem is so new that the authorities are struggling to keep up.
The sedative is not currently illegal in the United Kingdom, but the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs is calling for the Government to classify it as a Class C substance.
One 16-year-old girl, from Leyland in Lancashire, told The Sun how she was left fearing for her life after unknowingly taking medetomidine last month.
The teenager, who we are not naming, reveals: “It’s off the scale, really frightening.
“I’m now in hospital with two broken arms and a broken ankle after I jumped out of the window at my residential unit – I’ve got zero memory of what happened.”
Other users of the drug report experiencing painful “brain zaps”, heart attacks and instant blackouts.
There are accounts of deaths related to rhino tranq in both the United States and Britain. But so far they have not appeared in official statistics.
In Canada and the US, it is mainly being used as a low-cost way to make the killer drug fentanyl even more potent.
Last month, a drug-checking service in Toronto found that 81 per cent of expected fentanyl samples contained medetomidine.
On the streets of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighbourhood, users can be seen collapsed on the pavement.
Roz Pichardo, the founder of the drug support charity Sunshine House, estimated that 20 people had died from medetomidine in the area over the past year.
Medetomidine, a veterinary tranqualiser, is also known as ‘rhino tranq’Credit: NexGen
Tranq drugs are a known problem in the Kensington area of PhiladelphiaCredit: Alamy
If someone is suffering a fentanyl overdose, naloxone can be administered to reverse the effects. But it doesn’t work with rhino tranq.
Instead, patients need to be taken to the nearest Intensive Care Unit as quickly as possible to stop their organs shutting down.
Ketamine cocktails
In the UK, it seems that medetomidine is mainly being mixed with ketamine.
The teenager from Leyland says: “I’ve been doing ket for about a year now, and I’ve never known a hit like this stuff with this strong tranquiliser in.
“My dealer didn’t tell me what was in the bag, but straight away I knew this was different.
“My heart was pounding, I had no idea where I was, what I was doing.
“I first did it just before Christmas and got arrested for hitting someone in the street – I’ve got no idea who they were, what happened.
“The next thing I know, I’m released, get some more ketamine, and it’s the same as before – a tiny line and I’m off my face, panicking, seeing stuff that’s not there, stumbling around.”
Warnings from drug support groups in the north west of Britain have warned about medetomidine contaminating ketamine
Greater Manchester Drug Early Warning System reported in November that several batches of ketamine had been contaminated with medetomidine.
There are similar issues on Merseyside and Lancashire.
It is not possible to smell or taste the difference between medetomidine and ketamine, so users only know something is wrong when it’s too late.
Abigail Wilson, Director of Pharmacy at the drug and alcohol support group WithYou, tells The Sun: “WithYou is aware that medetomidine is appearing in the illicit drug supply in the UK, sometimes mixed with other substances.
“Medetomidine is a dangerous sedative drug, similar to xylazine but with a much greater likelihood of causing an overdose.”
The other side effects include an out-of-body feeling, raised heart rate, nausea, dizziness, panic, psychosis and vomiting.
Therapist Steve Pope, who specialises in helping drug addicts and operates in the Lancashire area, reckons that medetomidine has only become a major problem in the past couple of months.
I’m now in hospital with two broken arms and a broken ankle after I jumped out of the window
Ket user
He says: “We’ve had five cases of it mixed with ket and one with coke. This is so fresh off the block.
“There are not big numbers yet, this really is tip of the iceberg stuff.
“There is a whole generation of zombified kids stumbling towards us without any of us able to do anything about it.
“It’s all down to dealers making more money out of skint kids wanting a new, stronger high.
“This is elephant tranq, not rhino tranq.”
Cheap and deadly
Steve has been told that medetomidine sells for just £5-10 a bag.
But the problem is a user’s tolerance disappears very quickly, so they need to buy larger and larger amounts to feel the same effect.
Therapist Steve Pope has treated medetomidine usersCredit: Bernard Ashton – The Sun
That’s good for the dealer, but terrible for the customer.
Many accident and emergency staff are not aware of medetomidine or what it can do. But they now need to get clued up quickly in order to save lives.
There were 25 times the number of searches for information by healthcare workers about medetomidine poisoning last year than five years ago.
Steve says: “We know of five cases that have all gone through hospital.
There is a whole generation of zombified kids stumbling towards us without any of us able to do anything about it
Steve Pope
“We know the avalanche is coming. So how many more are not being reported?”
The advice from WithYou is to call 999 immediately if you suspect someone has overdosed on med.
Abigail concludes: “Whilst medetomidine does not act in the same way as opioid drugs such as heroin or fentanyl, and is not reversible with naloxone, it remains extremely important to administer naloxone in a suspected overdose, as opioids may also be present and naloxone will not cause harm.
“We would strongly encourage anyone witnessing someone experiencing a suspected overdose to call 999 immediately, put them in the recovery position and administer naloxone if available, as it will do no harm.”
Ketamine is being mixed with the deadlier medetomidine sedativeCredit: Getty
