'Tranq' Turns More Illicit Drug Users Into Amputees [View all]

[former9thward]

PHILADELPHIA—As a boy, Nathan Clark developed a fear that he would lose his limbs and be unable to fish and crab with his grandfather.

Today, Clark is a triple amputee. He lost his limbs after using fentanyl and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer also known as “tranq” that rots flesh and bone. Less than five years after xylazine showed up in his dope bag, the 29-year-old can’t bathe or use the toilet on his own.

“When they cut my legs off, the bone was black,” Clark said.

The rise of xylazine in the illicit drug supply is creating a generation of permanently disabled amputees. Hospitals in Philadelphia, a hot spot for xylazine contamination, are overwhelmed with patients who require costly and complicated care. Three-quarters of residents at Beacon House, an emergency shelter in the city’s Kensington neighborhood, have crippling wounds or amputations resulting from xylazine wounds that doctors don’t fully understand.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/tranq-turns-more-illicit-drug-users-into-amputees/ar-BB1nTnT7