SAMHSA is alerting providers and grantees to the risks associated with Xylazine. Xylazine is a non-opioid agent increasingly found in combination with opioids such as fentanyl. This alert offers information regarding the risks posed by Xylazine and to how to prepare to manage patients. The alert by Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Dr. Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, warns that since Xylazine is not an opioid, naloxone does not reverse the effects and severe withdrawal symptoms may occur which are not managed by medications for Opioid Use Disorders. Xylazine may present new potential public health challenges regarding overdose, withdrawal, and severe necrotic skin ulcerations.
