Medetomidine And Your Florida Drug Case

One of the most fun things you can do while high on weed is sit around and reminisce with your friends about all the things the teachers of your drug education course got wrong about drugs and how self-assured they sounded about it all.  If you graduated from high school before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, then your teachers were probably certain that cannabis would never be legal, not even Florida, and you could tell which kids were destined for the debate team, and which ones were destined for stoned slackerdom, based on the counterarguments they made.  Another point about which your teachers’ confidence in their knowledge was laughable was their recitation of what they claimed were all the recreational drugs out there.  Their knowledge was decades out of date; angel dust and barbiturates made the list, but ecstasy did not.  In fact, the list of substances people abuse is always growing.  Someone out there is harnessing the psychoactive compounds in ordinary household products, newly synthesized chemicals whose legal applications are not yet known, and even well-established drugs that have thus far managed to hide their fun side.  Veterinary drugs are just one category of chemicals that periodically make an appearance in the illegal drug supply.  If you are facing criminal charges for illegal possession of veterinary drugs, contact a Tampa drug crime lawyer.

What Is Medetomidine?

Medetomidine is a drug approved for use in dogs and cats; depending on the dose, vets can administer it for pain relief or for anesthesia during surgery.  It was first synthesized in 2007, but since 2022, it has been part of the illegal drug supply in the United States.  It often occurs in drug mixtures based on opioids; because medetomidine is inexpensive, drug dealers add it to the mixture to prolong the effects of the opioids, yielding a desirable product at an affordable price.  The trouble is that medetomidine, especially when the doses are not carefully controlled, can cause patients’ heart rates to become dangerously low.  Medical personnel who have treated patients who overdosed on medetomidine noted that their heart rates were as low as 20 beats per minute, compared to a normal resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute.

Medetomidine is not the only veterinary tranquilizer to become prevalent in opioid-based drug powders sold on the street.  Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer strong enough for use in large animals like cattle and elephants, is even more prevalent in South Florida’s drug supply.  The greatest danger of veterinary tranquilizers such as xylazine and medetomidine is that, because they are not opioids, they do not respond to naloxone, which is effective against even the strongest opioids, such as fentanyl.  A veterinary drug called atipamezole can, however, reverse the effects of medetomidine overdose.

Contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Bryant Scriven

A criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for illegal possession or distribution of veterinary drugs such as medetomidine or xylazine.  Contact Scriven Law in Tampa, Florida to schedule a consultation.

Source:

npr.org/2024/05/31/nx-s1-4974959/medetomidine-overdose-fentanyl-sedative