Flesh-eating 'zombie drug' saturating Los Angeles streets, officials say

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) - A flesh-eating "zombie drug" called xylazine has been saturating the streets of Los Angeles with severe, deadly effects when mixed with illicit opioids.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials launched a new program to track the troubling prevalence of the substance, which is a sedative typically used by veterinarians to anesthetize animals.

Also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope” on the streets, xylazine has become increasingly present in the illicit drug supply. The drug can be cooked down into a powder form and mixed with illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl or pressed into counterfeit pills or sedatives.

The “zombie drug” nick...