Missouri lawmaker urges Schedule III listing for xylazine to track 'tranq' overdoses
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Summary
Rep. Bill Allen told the House Health committee HB1881 would place xylazine ("tranq") on Missouri's controlled-substance schedule (Schedule III) to enable surveillance and prosecution while preserving veterinary use; veterinarians and doctors warned of severe tissue injury when mixed with fentanyl and stressed the need for data.
Representative Bill Allen (House District 17) told the House Health and Mental Health Committee that House Bill 1881 would add xylazine, often called "tranq," to Missouri's controlled-substance schedule as a Schedule III drug. Allen said the sedative, developed for veterinary use, has increasingly appeared in the illicit drug supply mixed with fentanyl and that naloxone—a standard opioid overdose reversal agent—does not reverse xylazine’s effects in humans. "Our medical teams in Missouri are watching people die with no way to help them," Allen said, urging the committee that scheduling would allow public-health surveillance and law enforcement to better measure and prosecute trafficking.
Allen emphasized the bill preserves legitimate veterinary access: manufacturers, pharmacists and veterinarians would still be able to produce, compound, prescribe and administer xylazine for animals under the bill’s carve-outs. He argued that state-level scheduling is necessary for prosecution and to integrate xylazine data into Missouri’s public-health infrastructure, even as federal actions proceed.
Veterinarian Dave Wilson, emeritus professor of equine surgery at the University of Missouri, testified in support, describing decades of safe veterinary use and warning that human exposures have produced severe soft-tissue necrosis and treatment challenges when xylazine is combined with illicit fentanyl. "This drug has been around since 1972… but when you get drug adulteration in the illegal opioid supply, we have a public-health problem," Wilson said. He urged targeted law enforcement, improved surveillance and protections so veterinary practice is not burdened by paperwork.
Committee members asked about human indications and why Schedule III was chosen rather than Schedule II. Allen and witnesses said Schedule III balances prosecutorial tools against preserving veterinary access and that state statute is required to prosecute or to ensure the state can act in tandem with federal scheduling.
The bill drew no public opposition during the committee's hearing; sponsors and experts urged the committee to move quickly to improve data collection and first-responder protocols.