‘Tranq’: The street drug designated as an ’emerging threat to the US’ by the White House
A street drug which rots the skin of those who use it has been designated an “emerging threat to the nation” by the White House.
The unprecedented announcement, by the Biden administration’s Office for National Drug Control Policy, reflects the alarming speed at which ‘Tranq’ is spreading across America.
Last month, Sky News revealed the impact Tranq – a mixture of the opioid fentanyl and the animal tranquiliser Xylazine – is having on communities in Philadelphia.
Since then, data suggests use of the drug is spreading rapidly all over the country.
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New drug rotting user’s skin
Speaking to reporters, the head of the White House Office for National Drug Control Policy, Dr. Rahul Gupta expressed alarm at the prevalence of the cocktail.
“I’m deeply concerned about what this threat means for the nation,” he said, adding: “This is the first time in our nation’s history that a substance is being designated as an emerging threat by any administration,”
In a special report filmed over a series of days last month, Sky News examined the impact the drug is having on a community in the north-eastern city of Philadelphia where the cocktail first emerged.
With help from volunteer medics and outreach workers we were shown the horrific wounds caused by the drug which is smoked, snorted or injected. Unusually the wounds appear randomly on the body.
Frequently, they are deep, they heal slowly and in many cases they lead to amputation.
Wounds appear randomly on the body of ‘Tranq’ users
Health officials in Philadelphia, speaking to Sky News last month, admitted they do not have a grip of their city’s crisis and warned that it would spread to other parts of the country.
Newly analysed data now shows a 1000% increase in overdoses linked to Tranq in southern American states suggesting a rapid and alarming spread.
The US is already experiencing a drug overdose crisis with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Overdoses have surged to more than 100,000 a year.
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What is ‘Tranq’? The new drug emerging in America
Dealers are now cutting, or mixing, fentanyl with Xylazine creating the ‘Tranq’ cocktail to lower their costs and increase demand.
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Users told Sky News that the new cocktail increases their addiction levels driving them to more hits a day.
White House officials formally notified Congress about the public health threat on Wednesday and say they will roll out a plan to tackle the crisis over the next 90 days.
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Measures are likely to include more testing for users so they can identify if Xylazine is contained in their drug supply. Dr Gupta has also called for more funding for accessible treatment for users.
In Philadelphia, users told us adequate and accessible treatment was not easily available. America’s insurance-based health system significantly complicates the challenge.
Xylazine is readily available to dealers on the open market. It is used legally by veterinarians as an animal tranquilizer.
The Drug Policy Alliance advocates for harm reduction but also highlights the harm caused by drug prohibition.
In a statement, they told Sky News: “The Biden Administration must learn from the mistakes of the past.
“Crackdowns on prescription opioids and heroin created the conditions for fentanyl analogues to flourish and overtake the drug supply.
“And now history is once again repeating itself, with newer, potentially more harmful substances like Xylazine popping up and already overtaking some markets.
“Make no mistake, focusing on supply-side interdiction will only dig us deeper into this crisis and inevitably result in more loss of life.”
Jurors in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs have reached a verdict on four of the five counts against him – but the hip-hop mogul will have to wait to learn his fate.
In tense scenes towards the end of the court day on Tuesday, jurors sent a note to say they had reached verdicts on two charges of sex trafficking and two charges of transportation for prostitution, but had been unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charge of racketeering conspiracy.
Combs‘s lawyers surrounded him at the defence table after the note was sent to the court, and at one point he held his head in his hands.
After discussions with prosecution and defence lawyers, Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors to continue deliberating on Wednesday rather than deliver a partial verdict.
Combs and one of his lawyers, Marc Agnifilo, earlier in the day. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
The jury has testimony from more than 30 witnesses to consider – including Combs’s former long-term partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another former girlfriend called “Jane”, who testified under a pseudonym to protect her identity.
Prosecutors allege the 55-year-old rapper used his fame and power to force Cassie and “Jane” into drug-fuelled sex sessions with male sex workers, which were referred to as “freak-offs”, “wild king nights”, or “hotel nights”.
He was also physically violent and blackmailed them with footage, jurors were told.
They also heard from “Mia”, a former employee who alleged she was sexually assaulted by the rapper on several occasions during her career. She also testified using a pseudonym.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defence team has argued that prosecutors are attempting to criminalise what they say was a consensual “swingers lifestyle”.
The rapper chose not to testify and his lawyers did not call any witnesses, building their arguments instead through lengthy cross-examinations of the witnesses called by the prosecution.
What is racketeering conspiracy?
Racketeering conspiracy, which is count one on the verdict sheet, is the most complicated of the charges against Combs.
Jurors need to decide not only whether the rapper created a “racketeering enterprise”, but also if he was involved in various offences as part of this, including kidnapping, arson and bribery.
The charge falls under the US’s RICO laws (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act), which is best known for being used in relation to organised crime and drug cartel cases.
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Prosecution’s closing argument
Defence’s closing argument
After closing arguments last week, jurors began deliberation on Monday and had spent about 13 hours discussing in total by the time they sent their note.
Before reaching the verdict on the four counts, they had requested to review crucial testimony from Cassie about her account of an assault in a hotel in Los Angeles in 2016.
Captured on CCTV, the footage was played in court several times – showing Combs, wearing only a towel and socks, beating, kicking and dragging Cassie in a hallway.
His defence team admitted in their opening statement that this was domestic violence, and said the music star regretted these actions – but that they did not amount to any of the federal charges against him.
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The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
As well as Cassie’s evidence on that assault, they asked to see her testimony on an incident at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 – when she said Combs accused her of taking drugs from him and kicked her off of his yacht.
On their way back to the US, she told the court, he threatened to release explicit videos of her having sex with an escort.
Jurors also wanted to review testimony given by a male sex worker at the start of the trial.
Combs could face 15 years to life in prison if he is convicted of all charges.
Jurors will continue deliberating on the racketeering conspiracy charge on Wednesday.
Elon Musk has stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill – weeks after a spectacular fallout between the world’s richest man and the US president.
Following weeks of relative silence after clashing with Mr Trump over his “big beautiful bill”, the billionaire vowed to unseat politicians who support it.
In a post on X, Musk said those who had campaigned on cutting spending but then backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame”.
He added: “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Musk also threatened to put their faces on a poster which said “liar” and “voted to increase America’s debt” by $5trn (£3.6trn).
The posts attracted a swift reply from Mr Trump, who claimed the billionaire “may get more subsidy than any human being in history” for his electric car business.
“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
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Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up
Musk spent at least $250m (£182m) supporting Mr Trump in his presidential campaign and then led the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sacked about 120,000 federal employees.
He has argued the legislation would greatly increase the US national debt and wipe out the savings he claimed he achieved through DOGE.
As the Senate discussed the package, Musk called it “utterly insane and destructive”.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the bill’s massive spending indicated “we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.
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Musk previously said some of his social media posts during his dramatic fallout with Mr Trump “went too far”.
He had shared a series of posts on X, including one that described Mr Trump’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.
He also claimed, in a since-deleted post, that the president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
But Musk later wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
In response, the president told the New York Post: “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”
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