Governor Mike DeWine ordered the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to classify the veterinary sedative xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance.
It first crossed state authorities鈥� radar in 2019. That year, the drug showed up in 15 overdose deaths. That number had climbed to 113 for just the first two and a half months of last year.
鈥淣o known antidote鈥�
A number of substances show up in the polydrug mixtures that crime labs analyze. Last year, the state added nine substances to the controlled drug schedule. But xylazine is a non-opioid and is uniquely dangerous.
鈥淣aloxone which is commonly used to reverse overdoses associated with opioids is not effective when used with xylazine,鈥� said Erin Reed, a special projects manager at the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no known antidote for xylazine when it causes an overdose that鈥檚 safe for humans.鈥�
Nine times out of 10, Reed says, xylazine is used with other drugs, so it鈥檚 still worthwhile to attempt to try to reverse the overdose.
鈥淣aloxone may still work, and is always recommended to be administered if an overdose is suspected,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut you may need to administer more than one dose and call emergency departments immediately.鈥�
Detecting its presence
Reed鈥檚 organization has been working with local drug toxicologists and chemists to monitor the presence of various drugs in the state.
Right now, xylazine is showing up in 25-30% of the fentanyl mixtures crime labs are analyzing, according to Reed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen that uptick and it鈥檚 that uptick in the presence of xylazine that really caused us to have to take measures immediately in order to protect people from overdoses and try to prevent people from being able to sell xylazine.鈥�
But that number is just an estimate.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really difficult to measure the presence of a substance in the illicit drug supply before it鈥檚 controlled,鈥� Reed said. 鈥淢ost crime labs do not include, on their reports, uncontrolled drugs.鈥�
The executive order will allow the state to get a better idea of the prevalence of the drug in the state.
鈥淣ow that xylazine is controlled, moving forward we鈥檒l start to see that from crime lab reports and we鈥檒l have a clearer idea of exactly how much is here,鈥� Reed said.