Medetomidine Is Not Just for Catnaps and Doggie Dreams Anymore
Watching Nickelodeon in Florida in the 1980s and early 1990s was a fever dream to say the least. Its weirdness appealed to a child’s sense of wonder as much as it did to a pothead’s appetite for snacks and giggles. The shows and commercials were just the right mix of hilarious and unsettling, but the filler was even more bizarre. Geriatric Millennials, even the few among us who are still cannabis naïve at an advanced age, have dim memories of a cartoon called “Dog Brain,” which lasts less than three minutes and is as mesmerizing as it is pointless. Throughout the cartoon, a dog is asleep on a rug. Its doggie belly rises and falls as it breathes in and out; occasionally, its ears and tail twitch in response to noises outside. Eventually, a thought balloon appears above its head, and we see it dreaming about itself sleeping. If only our lives were as simple as the lives of dogs; if only we could sleep peacefully. Despite what lawmakers say, some people are determined to take veterinary sedatives to experience the kinds of tranquility that our four-legged friends enjoy. If you are being accused of illegal possession of veterinary drugs, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
Who’s Afraid of Flysky?
The medical complaints of animals usually do not differ from those of humans; sometimes they suffer from chronic pain, and they can tolerate most medical treatments better if they are under sedation. The controls on veterinary sedatives are not as tight as the controls on the drugs approved for use in human patients; many of them are not formally listed as controlled substances. They are also less expensive.
It is a perfect storm for recreational use. For the past several years, a veterinary tranquilizer called xylazine has been prevalent in the illegal drug supply and has contributed to an increasing number of overdose deaths. Florida is one of the nation’s xylazine hot spots. Xylazine is a strong enough sedative that it is the preferred drug for tranquilizing large animals like elephants and hippos in the wild and for anesthetizing cattle and horses for surgery.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, medetomidine has been gaining traction, and it may already be present in the illegal drug supply in Florida. Medetomidine is most commonly used in dogs and cats. At low doses, it is a pain reliever, but at higher doses, it is an anesthesia drug. The first reports of medetomidine contributing to overdoses in humans were in 2022. In the past year, it has increasingly appeared in a drug mixture known as flysky, the components of which are medetomidine and synthetic opioids. The thing that makes flysky so dangerous is that medetomidine does not respond to naloxone, because it is not an opioid.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you got arrested for possession of a drug mixture that included medetomidine. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
baynews9.com/fl/tampa/ap-top-news/2025/05/01/animal-sedative-medetomidine-is-showing-up-in-the-us-illegal-drug-supply-cdc-says
