MILWAUKEE – Doctors have a hard time responding to xylazine. Xylazine is a tranquilizer that’s becoming more common in Milwaukee County’s opioid drug overdoses. Chief Health Policy Advisor in Milwaukee County Dr. Ben Weston says it’s steadily become more prevalent in recent years. “We first saw xylazine back in 2019. In our 343 opioid-related overdoses that year, 1 of those deaths had xylazine. That’s less than a third of a percent. In 2023, we saw 134 deaths involving xylazine out of 502 opioid deaths. More than one in four.”