How to Test for Xylazine
How to Test for Xylazine
Testing an opioid? Add this strip
Xylazine is a sedative, not an opioid, and Narcan won't reverse the xylazine itself. These strips are validated for opioid samples only, and a correct dilution is what makes the result mean anything. Follow the steps below before you test.
Xylazine is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer, and it reaches people mixed into the illicit opioid supply rather than sold on its own. It turns up in powder and in pressed counterfeit tablets, including fake M30 oxycodone pills, and it's most often a cut in black-market opioids like fentanyl and heroin. It's rare outside opioids, and in the few non-opioid samples where it has appeared, it has always come alongside fentanyl.
The strips on this page are a lateral-flow immunoassay: you dilute a little of an opioid sample in water, wick it up the strip, and read one line for a positive or two lines for a negative after three minutes. Diluted correctly they detect xylazine down to microgram levels, and they react to xylazine only. They don't clear a sample, they don't measure how much is present, and a negative describes just the portion you tested at the dilution you used. Read this page for how to run that check and what the result means, not for permission to use.
Common xylazine terminology
New to this? These are the words the rest of the page uses. Tap any term to expand it.
Xylazine ("tranq")
A non-opioid veterinary sedative now found in the illicit opioid supply. It causes heavy sedation, slowed breathing and heart rate, and skin wounds, and naloxone won't reverse the xylazine itself.
Tranq dope
Street names for an opioid supply cut with xylazine. The words describe a mixture, not a verified content, so only a strip or a lab tells you what's actually in a given sample.
Cut / adulterant
Something added to a drug that isn't the drug itself. Xylazine is used as a cut in black-market fentanyl and heroin, which is why it can be present with nothing you can see or taste.
Fentanyl
The synthetic opioid xylazine is most often mixed into. A xylazine strip says nothing about fentanyl, so an opioid still needs a separate fentanyl strip.
Immunoassay test strip
A lateral-flow paper strip that reacts to one target compound, here xylazine. It screens a diluted sample for a presumptive positive or negative; it doesn't identify anything else or measure how much is present.
False positive
A positive line when the target isn't really there, which over-concentrating a sample can trigger. It's why the dilution ratio matters and why these strips aren't validated on non-opioids.
False negative
A negative line when the target is present but too dilute to register. Using too much water is the usual cause, so under-concentrating a sample can hide xylazine that's actually in it.
Dilution ratio
How much sample you mix into how much water before dipping the strip. Xylazine uses one level micro scoop (10 mg) per teaspoon (5 ml) of water, which differs from the fentanyl strip ratio.
Presumptive result
An at-home result that points toward or away from a substance without proving it. A strip screens and only a lab confirms, so a strip result on its own stays presumptive.
What is xylazine / tranq dope?
Xylazine, known on the street as "tranq" or "tranq dope" and labeled a "zombie drug" in press coverage, is a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer turning up in the U.S. illicit drug supply. It's become a popular cut for black market opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin. Because it's a sedative rather than an opioid, it resists opioid reversal treatments such as Narcan.
Xylazine causes strong drowsiness, amnesia, slowed breathing and heart rate, and low blood pressure. When cut with opioids, the combined sedation can increase the risk of overdose, drug-related injury, and even death. Frequent use of xylazine can cause severe ulcers, abscesses, necrosis, and other wounds to the skin, which may appear far from injection sites, and can also occur due to smoking, snorting, swallowing, and other means of ingestion.
No xylazine strip on the market has been laboratory assessed for efficacy when testing non-opioid drugs. False positives are therefore likely with some non-opioids.
As of Fall 2023, xylazine has rarely been found in non-opioids, and when it has, it has always been alongside fentanyl. Always test non-opioids for fentanyl.
Xylazine test strip instructions
Sample preparation decides whether the strip gives you a usable answer. Any drug can read a false positive if it's over-concentrated (not enough water is used to dilute), or a false negative if it's under-concentrated (too much water is used to dilute).
The proper dilution for any drug checking strip is initially determined by laboratory analyses, as well as relevant facts about the current status of the illicit drug supply, such as the average concentrations of various adulterants in specific drugs. Over time, field testing, supplemented by confirmatory lab analysis (like GC-MS), may change our understanding of the optimum dilution.
When properly diluted, our strips are capable of detecting even tiny, microgram levels of xylazine, and should not produce false positives even if the sample contains high concentrations of fentanyl, heroin, diphenhydramine, alprazolam, diazepam, etizolam, oxycodone, hydrocodone, or lidocaine. What they can't do is clear a sample: they react to xylazine alone, and a negative describes only the portion you tested at the dilution you used.
Manufactured by W.H.P.M, our xylazine test strips are designed to detect xylazine in illicit opioid samples (in powdered and pressed pill form). Our strips have been laboratory tested for sensitivity and the potential for false positives with common opioid cuts. Our instructions are based on the results of those lab studies.
Step 1 — Preparing and diluting your drugs
Preparation is where most bad results come from. Any drug can read a false positive when it's over-concentrated (not enough water is used to dilute), or a false negative when it's under-concentrated (too much water is used to dilute).
For crystal or powdered drugs
- Weigh your drugs. Use a milligram scale to get the weight of the crystals or powder you are going to test. Write it down so you don't forget. If you don't have a milligram scale, you can use one of our 10 mg measuring spoons.
- Place your drugs in a small container. You only need to use 10 mg of substance, and you can either use our measuring cup, or a standard bottle cap from any 20 oz soda bottle.
- Add one level micro scoop (10 mg) into one teaspoon (5 ml) of water. This equals one level micro scoop (10 mg total) into a standard bottle cap of water (one teaspoon or 5 ml).
- Stir the mixture until completely dissolved. Proceed to STEP 2!
A level scoop (not rounded) of finely crushed powder is approx. 10 milligrams (available at TransparencyTestKits.com). One level micro scoop into a plastic bottle cap works great.
The xylazine dilution is one level micro scoop (10 mg) per teaspoon (5 ml) of water, different from our fentanyl strips, which use five scoops (50 mg) per teaspoon. If you're testing an opioid for nitazenes too, those use the same dilution ratios as this test.
For pressed opioid tablets & M30 oxycodone pills
Test any pressed opioid tablet containing binder material using this method.
- Crush the entire tablet into a fine powder.
- Pour the powder into a small cup.
- Add water for the amount of pill you have:
Water amounts for pressed pill portions Pill amount Water For a full pill Add 4 tbsp (or 1/4 cup) of water For a 1/2 pill Add 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) of water For a 1/4 pill Add 1 tbsp (1/16 cup of water) - Stir the mixture well. Proceed to STEP 2! Binder material may not completely dissolve — that's okay.
Counterfeit pharmaceutical tablets can look exactly like real ones, and there's no way to know if they contain fentanyl and/or xylazine without testing them first.
Step 2 — Using the strips
After following STEP 1 to dilute your drugs, it's time to use the strips.
- Hold the orange end of the test strip and insert the other end into the liquid, no higher than the top of the dotted section. Do not insert above the dotted section.
- Allow the liquid to travel up the strip into the test area. Hold the strip in the liquid for a full 15 seconds. Capillary action pulls the liquid into the test area.
- Remove the strip and set it down on a flat surface. The results will appear after 3 minutes. Proceed to STEP 3!
Step 3 — Interpreting the results
One red line on top after waiting 3 minutes is POSITIVE for xylazine.
Two red lines is NEGATIVE for xylazine in the portion you diluted. Note that the lower red line may be much lighter than the upper line. If you can see any line at all after three minutes, no matter how faint it may be, this is still negative for xylazine.
Usually this happens because the liquid did not travel far enough up the test strip.
- Use a bright light.
- Any second line, no matter how faint, is still a negative result.
- WARNING! These test strips do not guarantee that your substances are free of xylazine.
What about non-opioids and ketamine?
When xylazine has appeared in other non-opioids, like cocaine and meth, we've only ever seen it appear alongside fentanyl. We don't advise testing non-opioids for xylazine at this time, but you should always test non-opioids for fentanyl.
Ketamine and xylazine are both used as veterinary tranquilizers. This has led to rumors that xylazine has been found in ketamine, or that xylazine is being sold as if it were ketamine. We know of no instances of either, however. At this time there is no need to test ketamine with xylazine test strips.
Xylazine is almost always found alongside an opioid, and naloxone will reverse that part. Expect the person to stay sedated after they respond, keep monitoring their breathing, call emergency services, and never use alone.
The printed instructions
Every pack ships with this pamphlet. The text above reproduces it word for word — these images are the visual reference, including the strip diagrams and measuring illustrations.
The outside of the printed instructions — the quick reference guide. A visual guide to testing only a portion of your drugs; this method should only be used if you cannot dilute and test everything.
The inside of the printed instructions — the full three-step process, reproduced as text above.
Test for everything the strips can't see
Always test non-opioids for fentanyl — and opioids too. Different strip, different dilution.
How to test for fentanylSame dilution ratios as this test. Fentanyl strips don't detect them.
How to test for nitazenesReagent kits identify the dominant compound; strips can't.
How to test heroin & pain pillsQuestions
Why can't I use these on cocaine, meth or ketamine?
No xylazine strip on the market has been laboratory assessed for efficacy when testing non-opioid drugs, and false positives are likely with some non-opioids. Xylazine is almost exclusively being added to illicitly-sold opioids, and in the rare instances it has appeared in non-opioids, it has always been alongside fentanyl. For non-opioids, it is enough to test for fentanyl alone.
Is xylazine being sold as ketamine?
Both are veterinary tranquilizers, which has led to rumors that xylazine has been found in ketamine or sold as if it were ketamine. We know of no instances of either. At this time there is no need to test ketamine with xylazine test strips.
What dilution do I use?
One level micro scoop (10 mg) per teaspoon (5 ml) of water, and note that's one scoop, not the five our fentanyl strips use. For pressed opioid tablets, crush the whole pill and use 4 tablespoons of water (2 tbsp for a half pill, 1 tbsp for a quarter). Our nitazene strips use these same ratios.
The second line is really faint. Is that a positive?
No. Any second line, no matter how faint, is still a negative result. Use a bright light, wait the full three minutes, and if you can see any line at all, the test is negative for xylazine.
No lines appeared at all. What happened?
No red lines (or one red line on the bottom) means the test is invalid, usually because the liquid did not travel far enough up the strip. Re-run with a fresh strip, inserted no higher than the top of the dotted section, held in the liquid for a full 15 seconds.
Will Narcan reverse a xylazine overdose?
Not the xylazine itself, since it's a sedative rather than an opioid and resists opioid reversal treatments like Narcan. Give naloxone anyway, because xylazine is almost always found alongside an opioid and naloxone will reverse that part. Expect the person to stay sedated after they respond, keep monitoring their breathing, and call emergency services.
Does a negative result mean my drugs are safe?
No. These strips do not guarantee that your substances are free of xylazine, a negative only describes the portion you tested at the dilution you used, and no xylazine strip says anything about fentanyl, nitazenes, or potency. Run the other strips, and use lab testing for a definitive answer.
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Xylazine test strips, shipped within 24 hours.
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More resources
- How to test for fentanyl
- How to test for nitazenes
- How to test heroin and pain pills
- Our types of test kits
- Lab testing with Transparency Testing — for the questions strips can't answer
A sample that has been tested should not be considered safe. There is inherent risk when choosing to consume any substance.
Many factors are involved when conducting a test and examining reactions, and The Bunk Police does not assume responsibility for the interpretation of results. Reactions of individual samples can vary depending on lighting differences and the specific mixtures of substances being tested.
Bunk Police kits are intended for identifying unknown substances for harm reduction purposes only. The Bunk Police does not assume responsibility for the use or misuse of this information. Proceed at your own risk.
