The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a Dear Colleague letter to providers and grantees about the risks of xylazine. According to the press release, “SAMHSA’s goal with this alert is to provide information about the consequences of xylazine exposure, what practitioners can do to mitigate harm, and how SAMHSA is responding to this emerging public health challenge. SAMHSA thanks grantees and providers for their vital role in carrying out this life-saving work.”
For more information and resources on xylazine, visit the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) xylazine webpage. This webpage also includes an issue brief on xylazine, which outlines health risks and harm reduction strategies for xylazine. The issue brief states that health professionals, drug treatment providers, local policymakers, and harm reduction programs can prepare for xylazine by taking these steps:
- Support the development, implementation and scale-up of harm reduction services.
- Scale-up community-based naloxone distribution to people who use drugs.
- Advise health care professionals and first responders to consider xylazine exposure in cases where an overdose is not responsive to naloxone.
- Encourage clinicians to include xylazine exposure in the differential diagnosis of necrotic skin ulcerations in a person who is using drugs.
- Communicate xylazine trends to people who use drugs and those who work directly with them.
- Expand access to medication for opiate use disorder (MOUD).