As Fred lifted his pants leg he winced in pain. His jeans, damp from the freshly fallen snow, stuck to the open scab that stretched from his knee to his ankle, peeling away bits of skin as he revealed his wound.
“It’s amazing how fast it spreads. My leg actually looks like I got eaten by a zombie,” he said.
Fred knew this was the result of something he took. He struggles with drug addiction and turns to opioids to make life on the streets of Lowell a little easier to bear.
Scientists believe Xylazine limits the body’s ability to fend off infection, but not much is known about the full extent of its impact on the human body.
“What we hear is that Xylazine gives fentanyl legs, which means that it would extend the sort of duration of each time the person would use that they would feel something,” said Steven Murray.
Murry does overdose research at Boston Medical Center. His work focuses on the relationship between public health and public safety. He said most of what researchers know about Xylazine is from anecdotal evidence.
“Part of the problem is that there’s very little research in humans as to how Xylazine affects the body,” he said. “We’re kind of learning things on the fly. There aren’t a whole lot of ‘Xylazine in humans’ experts at this time.”
Though Xylazine’s been in the illicit drug supply for nearly two decades, Murray said there’s been a recent surge in its use.
The drug extends the “high” brought on by opioids. Since 2020 the drug has steadily crept across Massachusetts via the I-90 corridor.
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