Alarming rise in ‘zombie drug’ deaths in America as White House reveals action plan
New figures show a shocking rise in deaths on US streets linked to a drug which rots the skin of those who use it.
Xylazine, often referred to as Tranq or the zombie drug, has spread across America at such alarming speed that the White House has now released a new six-point action plan to tackle the crisis.
The drug, an animal tranquillizer, is increasingly mixed or “cut” by drug dealers into supplies of fentanyl which itself is already killing over 100,000 Americans every year.
According to the most recent data from 20 US states and the District of Columbia, the monthly percentage of fentanyl-associated deaths where xylazine was detected has increased from 2.9% to 10.9% – a jump of 276%.
Revealing the new figures and announcing the action plan, Dr Raul Gupta, the White House director of national drug control policy, said: “This administration recognises the grave threat that fentanyl combined with xylazine presents to our nation.”
The latest numbers are stark, shocking and suggest that the skin-rotting animal tranquiliser is now firmly established in America’s drug market.
In the 12 months ending in January, 109,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. Nearly seven in ten of those deaths were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl and a growing number were linked to xylazine.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has seized xylazine-fentanyl mixtures in 48 of the 50 US states. And according to the DEA laboratories, in 2022, 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl tablets contained xylazine.
Spelling out the scale of the crisis, Dr Gupta said: “As a physician, I’ve never seen one this bad, at this scale… I visited the wound care clinic in Kensington neighbourhood of Philadelphia, one of the hardest hit communities in the nation.”
He added: “So what I want everyone to understand is this: if we thought fentanyl was dangerous, fentanyl combined with xylazine is even deadlier.”
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What is ‘Tranq’? The new drug emerging in America
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The streets of Philadelphia
In March, Sky News revealed the scale of the xylazine crisis in the northeastern city of Philadelphia, where the drug cocktail first emerged, with a report that exposed the true cost of America’s evolving drug challenge.
On block after block in the Kensington district we saw people suffering from addiction who were increasingly finding their opioid supply was being cut by dealers with xylazine.
We saw the open wounds, the rotting skin and the volunteer outreach workers overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge.
Speaking to Sky News four months since we visited, one of the volunteers we met said the situation is now much worse.
“The hospitals can’t keep the patients comfortable – because of their addiction – to keep them long enough to get the wounds under control,” Ronnie Kaiser told me.
When the wounds caused by the xylazine get to a certain stage, the user may either admit themselves to the hospital or be taken to hospital. But their urge for another ‘hit’ will often be greater than the recognition that the wounds need to be treated. It is a cruel and vicious cycle of addiction.
“There’s always new people and sadly some we’ve seen for years and, of course, there’s some who passed.” Ronnie said.
Sky News visited Kensington in Philadelphia to investigate the impact of Tranq
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The White House six-point plan
According to Neera Tanden, the domestic policy adviser at the White House, the new six-point plan seeks to: “Aggressively expand access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery support for those with substance use disorders. And [take] bold actions to disrupt the supply of illicit drugs, especially fentanyl that is harming communities or all across the country.”
The plan, released on Tuesday, focuses on six pillars of action: testing, data collection, evidence-based prevention, harm reduction/treatment, supply reduction, scheduling (categorising the drug) and research.
The White House’s drug policy director, Dr Gupta said: “We’re calling on Congress to fully fund President Biden’s historic $46.1bn (£35.7bn) budget request for national drug control programs, including key funding to address illicit fentanyl and emerging threats like xylazine.”
Ronnie, who runs the Philadelphia-based charity Angels in Motion, speaking to Sky News earlier in 2023
The reaction on the streets
Ronnie, who runs the Philadelphia-based charity Angels in Motion, welcomed the fact that the federal government was finally recognising the scale of the crisis.
“Perhaps awareness is there now. It’s good that solutions are being looked at,” she said.
But she questioned the practicalities of the proposals: “Test strips? Why? Do they think the dealer will take the bag [of drugs] back if it comes up positive?!”
“We need more help with prevention, harm reduction, rehab and recovery houses – these should be the absolute solution now!” she said.
“Those of us on the ground know that these are the things needed. Unfortunately, I think funding goes to certain people, not so much to the boots on the ground.”
She pointed to the perennial American problem of medical insurance and the ‘for profit’ medical facilities. Even those living on the streets and suffering from addiction are required to navigate the country’s complex health system if they are to stand a real chance of recovery.
“We need federal rehabs, federal recovery houses, the ability for longer rehab stays and definitely all insurances to be accepted at all rehabs,” she said.
“That’s what we need so that all ‘for profit’ places go away. There are recovery houses that are so bad – throwing people out because they can’t find a job to pay fast enough.”
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Too late for America
In February, Philadelphia’s substance use prevention and harm reduction chief, Dr Andrew Best, warned that cities across America should brace for xylazine and called on the federal government to do more.
“Right now there’s no state or federal funding available,” he told Sky News. “I don’t want this to spread to other cities.”
The new data shows it’s too late, and in May the first UK death linked to xylaxine was announced.
The Biden administration has also announced plans to disrupt the supply of both fentanyl and xylazine into the country. The precursor products come from China and are mostly converted to tablet or powder form by cartels in Mexico as Sky News exposed earlier this year.
The fear now, given the ever-growing supply of xylazine-adulterated fentanyl, is that it will infiltrate other sectors of society.
In May, Sky News saw how small-town communities were struggling with accidental fentanyl overdoses by children in schools
Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.
Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.
“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.
Follow live: Trump tariffs latest
He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.
Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.
Pic: AP
His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.
Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.
The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.
It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.
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Trump’s tariffs explained
The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.
The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.
“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.
“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
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Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?
The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.
Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.
It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.
The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.
Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.
The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.
Read more:
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The rewards and risks for US as trade war intensifies
A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.
But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.
He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.
“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
Nicolas Cage added that “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing”.
“I thought he was a genius actor,” he said. “I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant and I admired his commitment and sense of humor.
“He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”
World leaders have begun reacting after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs across the world.
Mr Tump announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK.
He said he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the US and higher duties on some of the country’s biggest trading partners.
Speaking at a White House event entitled ‘Make America Wealthy Again’, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders, hitting at foreign “cheaters”.
These are some of the world leaders’ reactions.
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Trump’s tariffs explained
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said there is “no justification” for US tariffs.
“I deeply regret the US decision to impose 20% tariffs on imports from across the European Union,” the taoiseach added.
“We see no justification for this. More than €4.2bn worth of goods and services are traded between the EU and the US daily.
“Disrupting this deeply integrated relationship benefits no one. Tariffs drive inflation, hurt people on both sides of the Atlantic, and put jobs at risk.”
Read more:
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UK reacts to Trump’s tariffs
Donald Trump holding the signed executive order. Pic: Reuters
Manfred Weber, the president of the largest party in the European Parliament, the EPP, said: “To our American friends, today isn’t liberation day – it’s resentment day. Donald Trump’s tariffs don’t defend fair trade; they attack it out of fear and hurt both sides of the Atlantic.
“Europe stands united, ready to defend its interests, and open to fair, firm talks.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would fight tariffs with countermeasures.
“It’s essential to act with purpose and with force, and that’s what we will do,” he told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss Canada’s response.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “It is the American people who will pay the biggest price for these unjustified tariffs.
“This is why our government will not be seeking to impose reciprocal tariffs. We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, seen as close ally of the US president, called the tariffs “wrong” and said they would not benefit the United States.
“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the goal of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favour of other global players,” she said.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed to protect the country’s companies and workers and to “continue to be committed to an open world.”
His Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, said: “We don’t want growing trade barriers.
“We don’t want a trade war.
“We want to find our way back to a path of trade and cooperation together with the US, so that people in our countries can enjoy a better life.”
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