(NOVEMBER 7, 2022) Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Center on Rural Addiction, was quoted in VTDigger discussing the increasing use of the animal sedative xylazine as a sought-after dilutant for opioids due to its effect of prolonging the “high” from using opioids.
Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D.
(NOVEMBER 7, 2022) Stacey Sigmon, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Center on Rural Addiction, commented in a VTDigger article titled “Concerns Grow Over Xylazine-Laced Opioids After Infant Death in May” about the increasing use of Xylazine -- an animal sedative that is not approved for human use -- as a sought-after dilutant for opioids due to its effect of prolonging the “high” from using opioids. Because xylazine is not an opioid, experts say there is no test strip or current antidote for it and opioid antidotes such as naloxone may not be as effective in reversing opioid overdoses. Xylazine has become a growing factor in fatal opioid overdoses of Vermonters in recent years, and until experts learn more about it -- such as its potential toxicity at various levels and how to readily test for the drug -- it’s important to educate the public about its presence and health risks, Sigmon warned.