{"id":20867,"date":"2026-04-05T16:49:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20867"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:49:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:49:29","slug":"cdc-warns-about-rhino-tranq-a-mix-of-fentanyl-and-animal-sedative-that-resists-overdose-reversal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/04\/cdc-warns-about-rhino-tranq-a-mix-of-fentanyl-and-animal-sedative-that-resists-overdose-reversal\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC warns about &#8216;rhino tranq,&#8217; a mix of fentanyl and animal sedative that resists overdose reversal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"kCTVx qtHut lqtkC HkWF HfYhe kGyAC \" data-testid=\"prism-headline\">\n<h1 class=\"vMjAx eeTZd tntuS eHrJ \" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><span class=\"tChGB zbFav \">by<\/span> Denise Dador<span class=\"EpNlu \"> &#8211; ABC7 Newsteam &#8211; Los Angeles &#8211; <\/span>\u00a0April 4, 2026\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"LeadVideoWrapper\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div class=\"FittWebPlayerContainer FittWebPlayerContainer--16x9 FittWebPlayerContainer--videoPlaying FittWebPlayerContainer--shouldPlay\" data-testid=\"fitt-web-player\" data-ui-ptr-scope=\"\">\n<div class=\" hidden controls-container \">\n<div class=\"controls-footer\">\n<div class=\"transport-controls\">\n<div class=\"total-duration\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><strong>The CDC is issuing a warning about &#8216;rhino tranq,&#8217; an extremely dangerous street drug with a high rate of overdose.<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">\u00a0<\/span>You may have heard about the street drug &#8220;tranq.&#8221; It&#8217;s an animal tranquilizer mixed with fentanyl. Now there is a new CDC warning about a stronger version called &#8220;rhino tranq,&#8221; which doesn&#8217;t respond effectively to life saving medications like fentanyl alone does.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"xvlfx ZRifP TKoO eaKKC EcdEg bOdfO qXhdi NFNeu UyHES \" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Rhino tranq&#8221; is an emerging, highly-risky street drug. It&#8217;s a mix of fentanyl with the animal tranquilizer medetomidine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Can be dangerous when people use it, because it can increase the rate of overdose, it can increase the rate of low blood pressure and other cardiovascular complications,&#8221; said Dr. Brian Hurley, the medical director of substance abuse prevention and control with the L.A. County Department of Public Health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">He compared it to &#8220;tranq,&#8221; which is a combination of fentanyl and another veterinary relaxant called xylazine. Hurley said medetomidine, which is found in &#8216;rhino tranq,&#8217; is far more dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Medetomidine is actually more potent than xylazine is, and they both seem to be associated with increased risk of overdose,&#8221; Hurley said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The CDC issued a new warning to health care professionals on Thursday. Medetomidine, which is also known as &#8220;mede&#8221; or &#8220;dex,&#8221; is being picked up in seized drugs and wastewater samples. The highest concentration is in the Northeast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;So it&#8217;s not present here at the same degree that is present in other cities on the East Coast, like Philadelphia,&#8221; Hurley said. &#8220;At the same time, we do think it&#8217;s important that the public and the medical providers here in Los Angeles be aware that medetomidine is here.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">He said when people experience a fentanyl overdose with medetomidine, they don&#8217;t respond effectively to the opioid reversal drug naloxone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;Naloxone doesn&#8217;t address medetomidine intoxication, nor does it touch medetomidine withdrawal. So, that&#8217;s why people will need other supportive care,&#8221; Hurley said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Overall in L.A. County,\u00a0fentanyl-related deaths have dropped 37% in 2024 compared to 2023. But far too many overdoses are still happening and Hurley said people need to know &#8220;rhino tranq&#8221; is out there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;The safest thing is to not use drugs, but if somebody is thinking about using, never use a loan, have naloxone on hand, and consider using test strips to look at what&#8217;s in the drug supply,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">He said the county provides free fentanyl testing strips through their community health stations located at various schools, hotels and churches. You can see those\u00a0locations on their website.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Source: https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/cdc-issues-warning-rhino-tranq-mix-fentanyl-animal-sedative-medetomidine-resists-overdose-reversal-meds\/18835236\/<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"uvrxY zOGtW \" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Denise Dador &#8211; ABC7 Newsteam &#8211; Los Angeles &#8211; \u00a0April 4, 2026\u00a0 The CDC is issuing a warning about &#8216;rhino tranq,&#8217; an extremely dangerous street drug with a high rate of overdose. \u00a0You may have heard about the street drug &#8220;tranq.&#8221; It&#8217;s an animal tranquilizer mixed with fentanyl. Now there is a new CDC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,122,142,40,92,36,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-fentanyl","category-latest-news","category-prevention-research","category-synthetics","category-treatment-addiction","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20868,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20867\/revisions\/20868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}