If you get arrested for drug possession with intent to deliver, and the prosecution later accuses you of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy, it is almost certainly true that you do not know the whole story of the origin of the drugs. Most of the drug powders and counterfeit prescription pills have an origin story worthy of a Texan family saga. Various people bought the ingredients on the Internet or synthesized them in the U.S. or somewhere else and then transported them long distances and mixed them before selling them to the person who sold them to you. One of the scariest things about fentanyl is that, in most instances, you do not know that it is present in the drug mixture that you are consuming, buying, transporting, or selling.
Fentanyl has been a mainstay in the U.S. illegal drug supply for the better part of a decade, but the composition of street drugs is always changing. A recent report by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) shows that the amount of fentanyl in the U.S. drug supply decreased by 14 percent between 2023 and 2024. New drugs that are at least as dangerous are on the increase, though. If you are facing criminal charges for possession or distribution of medetomidine or other veterinary drugs, contact a Texas drug crimes attorney.
Legal Status of Medetomidine
Medetomidine is a tranquilizer that has been legally approved for veterinary use since 2007. Vets give it to cats and dogs at low doses for pain management and at higher doses during anesthesia for surgery. It is not legal for humans to possess medetomidine outside of a veterinary setting, even though it has not formally been scheduled as a controlled substance.
A New Veterinary Tranquilizer Expands Its Prevalence in the Illegal Drug Supply
The first time a crime lab detected medetomidine in the illegal drug supply was in July 2022, but it is likely that people had been using it recreationally for a while before that, whether they knew it or not. Since then, investigators have connected it to several mass overdose events. It appears that the rationale for including medetomidine in drug mixtures based on opioids is to prolong the effects of the opioids. Instead, medetomidine reduces patients’ heart rates to dangerously low levels. In a mass overdose event that happened earlier this year, first responders reported that patients’ heart rates were as low as 20 beats per minute when a normal resting heart rate is around 60 beats per minute.
Because medetomidine is not an opioid, naloxone has no effect on the symptoms of medetomidine overdose; this problem also exists with xylazine, another veterinary tranquilizer frequently sold on the street in opioid-based drug powders. Atipamezole, also known by its brand name Antisedan, can, however, help patients recover from medetomidine overdose.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC About Criminal Defense Cases
A Dallas criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges involving allegations of possession of veterinary tranquilizers. Contact the Law Office of Patrick J. McLain, PLLC, in Dallas, Texas, to discuss your case.