Kaine bill aims to make dent in flow of tranq drug

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Sen. Tim Kaine and other lawmakers are trying to put a stop to a dangerous drug that is on the streets of Hampton Roads.

Called xylazine, or tranq, it’s a sedative often added to other narcotics, and Kaine said he’s trying to stop its spread.

Tranq making ‘deadliest drug threat’ in US ‘even deadlier,’ DEA warns

However, a Virginia Beach mother who lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdoes, hopes more can be done now.

Makayla Cox was just 16 when she died from a fentanyl overdose. Her mother said she had never even heard of fentanyl before it came back in Makayla’s toxicology report.

Now, her mother says she sees the word and hears about it everywhere.

“Jan. 22, that morning, I went to wake her up and she was unresponsive,” said mother Shannon Doyle.

She said Makayla should be walking across the stage at graduation this year.

Instead, Doyle is using her daughter’s story to help start conversations about drugs and prevent other kids from overdosing, too.

“A lot of parents are like, ‘not my kid, not my kid,'” Doyle said. “We talk about it, but I’m like, it is your kid. It is your kids’ friends. They know someone who is affected by it one way or another, and that’s where you have to start the conversations.”

Now, new legislation hopes to make a dent in the drug epidemic.

Kaine said there has been a big spike in the use of xylazine, or tranq.

The Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, calls xylazine the deadliest drug threat the U.S. has ever faced.

“In fact, it’s pretty common now to see fentanyl cut with xylazine, or tranq,” Kaine said. “The problem with that is someone who overdoses on [a] fentanyl/tranq mix, Narcan will reverse the effects of the fentanyl, but it doesn’t reduce the effects of tranq, so that means these drugs that are cut are very dangerous.”

The Stop Tranq Act would make it a requirement for the State Department to include xylazine in its annual reporting. The report tracks the international drug trade, so they could get clearer information about where the dangerous substance is coming from.

“So, Sen. [Ted] Cruz and I are glad to be putting this bill together,” Kaine said, “and we think it will have good bipartisan support.”

Doyle said it is a start toward helping to save lives, but she hopes mor can be done.

She says fentanyl is already tracked in the report, and it seems like more of it is coming into the country than ever before. Doyle and other parents plan to rally at the U.S. Capitol in May.

“Knowing where it’s coming from is the first step, but then what,” Doyle said. “What’s the next step? And are you going to do what actually needs to be done to stop it? And I think the other big step is, it’s here. What are we doing for the people [who] are taking it?”

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