ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) - Tuesday morning, the Oklahoma Attorney General released a statement urging the DEA to ban a growing threat to public health at the federal level.
Bromazolam, better known as "designer Xanax" is a black market drug increasingly contributing to overdose deaths in Oklahoma.
"This particular chemical is one of numerous variations that we've identified over the past year that are showing up in drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other street drugs," Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodard said.
OBN says in 2024, 1% of Oklahoma overdoses were linked to designer Xanax.
"In our overdose death statistics here at the Bureau of Narcotics, we've identified 12 cases last year where this particular chemical was found in samples of both methamphetamine and fentanyl," Woodard said. "We had 12 samples out of about 1,200 deaths."
However, this number could be more as Kentucky's Office of the Attorney General tells me some overdoses come from poly-drug users.
The Kentucky Office of the Attorney General was the first of many to urge the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for a national ban on "designer Xanax."
Oklahoma and Kentucky are just two of 21 Attorney's General nationwide calling for emergency action. They're seeking to schedule bromazolam under the Controlled Substance Act.
Last week in a group letter to the DEA administrator, Terry Cole, they outlined safety concerns like Narcan being ineffective and called the drug "highly potent" and "unpredictable."
As of now, only a few of these states banned bromazolam, but with states like Oklahoma, this emergency action will allow law enforcement and public health officials to actively respond to the emerging crisis.
Until this possible ban can be put in place, OBN reminds everyone to expect the unexpected when it comes to black market drugs.
"You just don't know what you're getting and any one of those pills can be deadly," Woodard explained.