In Philadelphia, skin-rotting drug ‘tranq’ invades a neighbourhood already devastated by opioids

Drug users in the Philadelphia neighbourhood of Kensington have increasingly been turning towards a drug called xylazine, or “tranq”, a veterinary sedative often mixed with other drugs such as heroin or fentanyl. But when people begin to use the substance, it quickly causes horrific damage to their bodies – including necrosis and skin tissue rotting. Authorities in Philadephia and across the nation are getting increasingly worried about the drug's spread and the damage to victims.