Massachusetts Xylazine Commission Unanimously Approves Final Report Due Monday

BOSTON — March 24, 2026 — Massachusetts's Joint Special Commission on Xylazine voted unanimously to approve its final report at its fifth and final public meeting on March 24, clearing the document for submission to House and Senate clerks by March 30. House Chair Representative Mindy Dahm presided, noting that Senate Co-Chair Senator John Villas was absent due to active-duty deployment with the Massachusetts National Guard and had submitted a letter of support in lieu of a vote. The session centered on a line-by-line review of tracked changes to the second draft, with commissioners agreeing to revise language characterizing xylazine as a weight-adding bulking agent — replacing it with language identifying xylazine as an active additive — and to drop the term "hotspots" in favor of "local trends and patterns," a change pushed by Deputy Director Sarah Ruiz, who said the hotspot terminology "implies a lot more data than we probably have right now." The report addresses first responder protocols, wound care gaps, drug checking infrastructure, and the emergence of other adulterants including nitazenes and medetomidine.