MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana and now xylazine are taking to the streets of Memphis. The drug has been around for years and more recently as a substance some dealers have used to lace other drugs with.
“Every time you experiment or use something in our city, it could be the last time … that you are alive,” A Betor Way founder, Ron Bobal said.
The Memphis Police Department received more than 1,200 overdose calls in the first five months of 2023. A Betor Way’s Vice President, Kathryn Goforth, said she recently had a friend die from an overdose.
“I have a friend that just died a couple months ago because he uses cocaine occasionally and it had fentanyl in it and he overdosed and died because he was by himself,” Goforth said.
Many outpatient clinics still seeing fentanyl on a daily basis.
“Just the main things that we’re seeing is fentanyl is the issue,” Goforth said. “They break down a little bit of what they have, whatever the substance may be, and they put some water in it and dissolve it and then they test it to see if fentanyl is in it.”
But a newer drug claiming lives is xylazine and it’s putting the West Tennessee drug task force on high alert, Director of the task force Johnie Carter said.
“We are seeing a rise in fentanyl coming into Memphis,” Carter said. “When you’re doing fentanyl of course you’ve got naloxone and stuff that will counteract those. But with xylazine which we’re seeing mixed a lot with fentanyl. Right now, almost all the fentanyl we’re getting is mixed with xylazine and naloxone does not work on xylazine.”
Naloxone being the active ingredient in Narcan, and other branded medicines used to reverse most overdoses, but not an overdose from xylazine. If you aren’t testing substances with test strips before using them, Light Walleman with A Betor Way said sores might be the only hint that what you’re using is laced with xylazine.
“Xylazine is so new right and were seeing actual open sores on a person’s forearms legs and inner thighs and inner extremities mostly,” Walleman said. “There has been some research done recently and what they’re finding out is it doesn’t matter how xylazine is ingested it kind of populates on the limbs and it creates these sores.”
The West Tennessee Drug Task Force said it’s working to continue patrolling high traffic areas to stop the distribution of drugs before it’s too late.
“The main thing is to let somebody know that you’re using,” Bobal said. “Don’t use alone and find somebody to talk to about it there’s lots of opportunity for people to reach out and you can seek help.”
If you or someone you know is in need of help with substance abuse, call 911 or you can contact the crisis line at 1-800-662-4357.