MDH calls xylazine an ‘emerging concern’ as recovery center aims to provide detox services to thousands. | June 12th, 2024, KSTP.com

As the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) continues to raise awareness for xylazine, Gateway Recovery Center expands services to meet community needs with expert care.

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The gratitude tree on the wall of Gateway Recovery Center in Inver Grove Heights is a group thank-you note from those battling substance abuse.

“It steals, it robs the life that we have,” declares Stephanie Goode, the center’s vice president of Recovery Services.

Gateway provides detox services for about 2400 people a year, half of them recovering from opioid use disorder.

A growing concern here is xylazine, known on the street as tranq.

We asked Goode how bad this drug is.

“It’s crazy in the sense that it was never meant for human consumption,” she explains. “It is a horse tranquilizer that has never been approved for humans to consume.”

Goode says one-third of her opioid-use clients have tested positive for the drug.

Mixed with fentanyl, it can extend the high from one hour up to four hours.

“Both are bad, but one isn’t meant for humans, so we’re seeing really serious effects,” Goode says. “We’re seeing a lot higher blood pressure when withdrawing, more agitation, discomfort.”

A Department of Health report released Wednesday calls xylazine an ‘emerging concern.’
The agency noted in 2023 that one in 11 toxicology samples statewide that tested positive for fentanyl also detected xylazine.

In the metro, it was one in 15.

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