How dangerous is tranq, the new drug sweeping America? | A Marylander who hadn't recently traveled internationally caught malaria. Officials say it's the state's first 'locally acquired' case in 40 years. | If you’ve felt like people are getting crueler, you may be right

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Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium How dangerous is tranq, the new drug sweeping America?    IN THE EARLY 2010s reports emerged of a nightmarish drug appearing in Russia and eastern Europe. Krokodil, a cheap substitute for heroin that was concocted in kitchen laboratories, left users with scaly skin and rotting wounds. Now a similarly damaging drug, a fentanyl mix known as tranq dope, has arrived in America. Deaths associated with it have almost quadrupled since 2019, rising as a share of fentanyl-related deaths from 3% in January that year to 11% in June 2022. Last month the White House announced a plan to stop its spread. How worrying is tranq dope? Tranq dope combines fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug, with xylazine or “tranq”, a strong non-opioid tranquiliser used to sedate horses, deer and other large animals. It was first detected by drug authorities in the early 2000s in Puerto Rico and, in the years since, circulated there and in limited areas within the American north-east, such as Philadelphia. But the drug has now been detected in nearly every state in the country and, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is probably being mixed by local dealers. Xylazine can be bought for as little as $6 per kilogram on Chinese websites, so illicit drug suppliers can maximise their profits by using it to bulk up their more expensive fentanyl, supplied mostly by Mexican drug cartels. Many end users will not know whether they are buying fentanyl or tranq dope, though it is becoming increasingly risky to assume that the former has not been cut with xylazine. In March the DEA said that almost a quarter of American fentanyl powder contained it. In 2021 the proportion was above 90% in Philadelphia. Continued here You Might Like � � � � � � � � � A Marylander who hadn't recently traveled internationally caught malaria. Officials say it's the state's first 'locally acquired' case in 40 years.    Someone in Maryland contracted malaria, and officials are scratching their heads as they grapple with the state's first local case of the disease in four decades.  The Maryland Department of Health confirmed the case on Friday, saying the individual lives in the Washington, D.C., region and had not recently traveled internationally – a common flag for malaria cases.  "Malaria was once common in the United States, including in Maryland, but we have not seen a case in Maryland that was not related to travel in over 40 years," Laura Herrera Scott, secretary of the state Department of Heath, said in a statement, adding that the department is "taking this very seriously."  Continued here If you've felt like people are getting crueler, you may be right    Schadenfreude is feeling pleasure at other people's misfortune. Experts explain the factors that may be leading to this nationwide deficit of empathy. When a Manhattan art dealer showed interest in Paul Weiner's art, he thought his career had finally taken a turn. The then-struggling artist was couch surfing in Brooklyn when the well-connected procurer discovered him on Instagram. "At first I thought she was interested in my work," Weiner says, "but it didn't take long before her intentions became apparent." Soon after they began talking, the dealer’s attention shifted from Weiner's art to hearing about how he couldn't afford paint or pay for much-needed dental work. "She delighted to hear about my misery," he says, "she always needed to hear another story about my struggles." Though he didn't know what to call it at the time, Weiner was a victim of schadenfreude: feeling pleasure at other people’s misfortune.  Continued here

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