[imagesource:stateline.org]

Bruce Springsteen could not possibly have had this in mind when he wrote the hit song Streets Of Philadelphia, but the lyrics “I was bruised and battered, couldn’t tell what I felt, I was unrecognizable to myself” seems almost prophetic now.

Disturbing footage of the effects of the new drug called Tranq has been doing the rounds, and you can easily believe it is a trailer for The Walking Dead.

Tranq, or Xylazine as Bayer calls it, is an animal sedative used to enhance the effects of heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl, and its widespread use has now prompted the US government to label it “an emerging threat.”

This “emerging threat” can however not be addressed by the usual bombing into oblivion, but its effects are as horrific as any wartime scenario. Called the Zombie Drug due to its flesh-rotting effects, users can be seen swaying from side to side like real-life zombies in the below footage.

The video was taken in the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia which is infamous for its open-air drug market. With the presidential election in full swing in ‘Murica, presidential hopefuls like Vivek Ramaswamy are now flocking to the area to highlight the scourge of this drug.

“The people I met in Kensington, PA, couldn’t care less if you have Republican or Democrat next to your name. Fentanyl, violence, and homelessness are the problem,” he tweeted.

Well, perhaps more the result of another problem called paid-for politics.

The contender for the big seat should rather ask how the opioid, and non-opioid crisis, has been allowed to reach this point. In the meantime Ramaswamy says the city has “become inundated with needles littered across the street, urging action to fight open-drug use and homelessness.”

Why do governments always ‘urge action’ when they are the ones who hold all the power to do something? It’s not like drug use and homelessness are a Russian-backed ploy to rot the American soul. It’s a homegrown problem that happened under their own watch. Hell, even Bruce begged you to take a look.

Maybe the next president will get on it if lobbyists allow him, or her.

But as grotesque as American politics can be, it’s still nothing compared to the scenes unfolding on Springsteen’s streets. People propping each other up as they sway back and forth, teens trying to stand up but barely able to move their feet, and tent cities everywhere.

The “emerging threat,” has already claimed 4,859 overdose deaths nationally between January 2021 and June 2022, according to the CDC.

With a staggering 1,127% rise in xylazine-positive overdose deaths in the South and a 103% spike in the Northeast, this is a problem that needs more attention than a tweet.

Check out the disturbing scenes below, but be warned, this is not a post-apocalyptic show, and the people in the video are not actors. They’re real people, not just statistics.

What happened to Philadelphia? pic.twitter.com/nG6HMvFhjt

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 17, 2023

Brother, are you gonna leave me wastin’ away?

Will we leave each other alone like this?

On the streets of Philadelphia?

[source:nypost&brucespringsteen]