St. Joseph County police are sounding the alarm after finding a large quantity of a new drug that’s caused big problems elsewhere for people who overdose on it.
On Friday St. Joseph County police arrested 35-year-old Ashley Wardlow on a warrant for meth possession in South Bend. But more worrisome to police, they found Wardlow with over a pound of cocaine mixed with xylazine, a powerful veterinary sedative.
Captain Joe Focosi says the department has been monitoring the growing use of xylazine but this is the first time they’ve seen such a large amount.
Like the deadly fentanyl mixed with heroin, Focosi says cutting cocaine with the cheaper xylazine boosts drug dealers’ profits.
"What we're seeing a lot of now is that you never know what you're getting," Focosi says. "Drug distributors are doing everything they can to make money, to gain a profit."
Focosi says xylazine mimics an opioid but police are concerned because unlike with the opioid fentanyl, xylazine overdoses can’t be reversed by naloxone, or NARCAN, the drug that has dramatically reduced overdose deaths.
"NARCAN has no effect on it," Focosi says. "It's very scary and especially in the amount that we recovered."
