Toxicologists warn of potentially deadly drug spotted in VA illegal drug supply

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Toxicologists with UVA Health are trying to spread the word on a potentially deadly substance that’s been spotted in Virginia’s illegal drug supply as well as across the United States and Canada.

The drug is called medetomidine.

“The question is...What is the presence of this medetomidine actually doing in the patient and is it more or less concerning in conjunction with opioids,” UVA Blue Ridge Poison Center Assistant Director Avery Michienzi said.

Medetomidine, she says, is not made for humans.

“It’s a veterinary sedative that is really only approved for veterinary use,” Michienzi said.

Michienzi says the drug is now showing up more and more frequently in the illegal drug supply.

“It’s kind of popping up in drug seizures now as an adulterant in predominantly the opioid supply,” Michienzi said. “They have seen it most often as an adulterant with fentanyl, but there also are some reports of it with heroin and cocaine.”

The reason it’s ending up in other drugs has to do with cost.

She says these additives can potentially make these already deadly drugs worse.

“If it’s used in conjunction with an opioid, both of which cause people to be really sleepy, is that people are higher risk for aspiration,” Michienzi said. “If they vomit or something happens when they’re sleepy, then they kind of don’t have control over their airway.”

Michienzi said more work needs to be done to better understand the full effects medetomidine has on humans.

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