The Detection of Xylazine in Tijuana, Mexico: Triangulating Drug Checking and Clinical Urine Testing Data

Xylazine is a veterinary anesthetic increasingly present alongside illicit fentanyl in the US and Canada, presenting novel health risks. Although xylazine remains less common in the Western US, Mexican border cities serve as key trafficking hubs and may have higher prevalence of novel substances, but surveillance has been limited.

We examined deidentified records from the Prevencasa harm reduction clinic in Tijuana, describing urine and paraphernalia testing from patients reporting using illicit opioids within 24 hr. Xylazine (two types), fentanyl, opiate, methamphetamine, amphetamine, benzodiazepine, and nitazene test strips were used to test urine and paraphernalia samples. Paraphernalia samples were also analyzed with mass spectrometry.

The study consisted of 23 participants that provided both urine and paraphernalia samples. Of the participants studied, 100 %, 91.3 %, and 69.6 % reported using China White/fentanyl, methamphetamine, and tar heroin, respectively. The mean age was 41.7 years, 95.7 % were male, 65.2 % were unhoused, and 30.4 % had skin wounds at the time of sample collection.Xylazine positivity in urine, for the two types used, was 82.6 % and 65.2 %. For paraphernalia testing, the xylazine positivity was 65.2 % and 47.8 %. Confirmatory testing of paraphernalia samples by mass spectrometry indicated a 52.2 % xylazine positivity. This testing also revealed positivity rates for fentanyl (73.9 %), fluorofentanyl (30.4 %), tramadol (30.4 %), and lidocaine (30.4 %).The mass spectrometry results suggest lidocaine triggered n = 3 and n = 0 false positives among the xylazine test strip types. A total of n = 0 and n = 1 false negatives were also observed.

Xylazine is present on the U.S.-Mexico border, requiring public health intervention. High lidocaine positivity complicates the clinical detection of xylazine via testing strips. Xylazine was found to be more prevalent in urine than in paraphernalia samples. Confirmatory urine studies are needed to better understand possible complications of using test strips for toxicological testing.