A bill from Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Delano) to tackle the xylazine issue passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
Xylazine, known as tranq, has emerged as an additive to fentanyl in recent years.
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The big picture: Assembly Bill 3029 would schedule xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance, which would be contingent on Congress acting to schedule the sedative.
- Xylazine is particularly dangerous because opioid overdose medication naloxone does not reverse its effects, and there is no approved antidote for xylazine.
- The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reported that from 2020 and 2021 the US Census South region sawa a 1,127 percent increase in xylazine-positive overdose deaths.
- AB 3029 would also require coroners and medical examiners to test for xylazine in the event of suspected overdose deaths.
What we’re watching: After passing through the Public Safety Committee with unanimous support, AB 3029 will now head to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee for consideration.
What they’re saying: “Given the need to maintain the availability of xylazine as a veterinary medication, we need to have our regulatory framework and criminal code reflect the reality of what we see when people come in for treatment or, worse, are found dead from an overdose,” Bains said.
