Senators introduce bipartisan bill targeting deadly tranq street drug

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced legislation on Wednesday targeting a deadly street drug known as tranq through officials taking steps to prevent its spread. 

A release from Cruz, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, states that the Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act would help fight an increase in the use of the illegal animal tranquilizer Xylazine, nicknamed tranq. 

The legislation would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which works to advance U.S. “innovation and industrial competitiveness,” to improve its understanding of tranq and other synthetic drugs, create new tests for detecting it and partner with entities that are often the first to encounter the drug. 

Cruz and Welch said in the release that tranq has devastated communities in their respective home states of Texas and Vermont and across the country. 

“To protect our citizens, we must work swiftly to prevent deadly new drugs like tranq and the truly horrifying side effects that come with it from taking hold,” Cruz said. “I am proud to work on a bipartisan basis with Senator Welch to improve our knowledge of these devastating drugs so we can aid those on the frontline of this battle.” 

Welch noted that additional information about the drug is needed before the country can address the crisis. 

“With better information, we can get resources directly to those working on the frontlines and combat the rise of these dangerous new drugs,” he said. 

The release notes that the Drug Enforcement Administration found a “skyrocketing” increase in detections of tranq from 2020 to 2021. Detections grew by almost 200 percent in the South, more than 100 percent in the West and more than 60 percent in the Northeast, the release states. 

Users often combine tranq with other drugs like fentanyl and Xanax, but tranq itself is not an opioid, so Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses, cannot affect it. 

The release states that Reps. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and Yadira Caraveo (D-Colo.) have introduced companion legislation to the TRANQ Research Act in the House. 

The Biden administration declared Xylazine-laced fentanyl an emerging threat to the country earlier this month.