How dangerous is tranq, the new drug sweeping America? | Zimbabwe’s climate migration is a sign of what’s to come | iRobot launches a $1,399 premium Roomba combo vacuum/mop and dock | TechCrunch

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You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium How dangerous is tranq, the new drug sweeping America? - The Economist    IN THE EARLY 2010s reports emerged of a nightmarish drug appearing in Russia and eastern Europe. Krokodil, a cheap substitute for heroin that was concocted in kitchen laboratories, left users with scaly skin and rotting wounds. Now a similarly damaging drug, a fentanyl mix known as tranq dope, has arrived in America. Deaths associated with it have almost quadrupled since 2019, rising as a share of fentanyl-related deaths from 3% in January that year to 11% in June 2022. Last month the White House announced a plan to stop its spread. How worrying is tranq dope? Tranq dope combines fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug, with xylazine or “tranq”, a strong non-opioid tranquiliser used to sedate horses, deer and other large animals. It was first detected by drug authorities in the early 2000s in Puerto Rico and, in the years since, circulated there and in limited areas within the American north-east, such as Philadelphia. But the drug has now been detected in nearly every state in the country and, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is probably being mixed by local dealers. Xylazine can be bought for as little as $6 per kilogram on Chinese websites, so illicit drug suppliers can maximise their profits by using it to bulk up their more expensive fentanyl, supplied mostly by Mexican drug cartels. Many end users will not know whether they are buying fentanyl or tranq dope, though it is becoming increasingly risky to assume that the former has not been cut with xylazine. In March the DEA said that almost a quarter of American fentanyl powder contained it. In 2021 the proportion was above 90% in Philadelphia. Continued here You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Zimbabwe's climate migration is a sign of what's to come - MIT Technology Review    Climate change will force tens of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa to migrate by 2050. In Zimbabwe, it's already started. Julius Mutero has harvested virtually nothing in the past six years. For his entire adult life, he has farmed a three-hectare plot in Mabiya, a farming community in eastern Zimbabwe. There he grows maize and groundnuts to feed himself, his wife, and their three children. He sells whatever’s left for cash. But over a decade ago, his area started getting less rain and the rivers dried up. What was already a hot climate, with temperatures that could reach 30 °C (86 °F), began recording summer highs up to 37 °C (99 °F) on a regular basis. Now the rainy season begins in late December instead of early November, and it ends sooner too. In the driest months, dust billows across sunbaked farmlands where only thorny shrubs remain. Continued here You Might Like � � � � � � � � � iRobot launches a $1,399 premium Roomba combo vacuum/mop and dock | TechCrunch - TechCrunch    Like many of us, iRobot has a long-standing love-hate relationship with the mop. The first Scooba system became widely available in 2010. Ultimately, however, mopping up and filling a tank with dirty water proved inefficient, and the line was eventually phased out. The new line was ultimately Braava, which arrived as part of its 2012 acquisition of Evolution Robotics. That system favors a cleaning pad, which ultimately proved less potentially disastrous than a tank system. Despite what the Standells might tell you, citizens of iRobot’s hometown do not, in fact, love that dirty water. One of the company’s longstanding holy grails is the combination system. Convenience is paramount, combining mopping and vacuuming into a single system. Roughly this time last year, the company announced the Roomba Combo j7+. The system uses a clever mechanical arm to move the pad out of the way, so you don’t accidentally mop the carpet. iRobot expanded the line a couple of weeks back with an improved j7+, along with the Roomba Combo i5+, which lowers the price point $250, down to $549. Continued here

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