When Dave, a local cocaine user, spotted white and hairy-looking patches on his tongue, he was understandably “freaked out.” Doctors diagnosed him with oral thrush, but were puzzled as to why he, an otherwise healthy young man, would have an infection that typically affects those with compromised immune systems. “I was terrified. I thought I might have HIV,” says Dave (not his real name). After ruling out HIV, he now suspects his infection may have been caused by a bad batch of cocaine.
He’s right to express concern. Cocaine cut with levamisole, a drug used to deworm pigs and cows, has appeared on the streets of Halifax, Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver and Ontario. Most users already know it’s hard to find pure cocaine, but levamisole is particularly nasty: it destroys users’ white blood cells, leaving them vulnerable to aggressive skin infections, fevers, thrush, abscesses and sores.
Experts have noticed a recent spike in levamisole-cut cocaine, estimating that anywhere between 60 and 90 percent of North American cocaine contains the anti-parasitic. But nobody seems to know what percentage of local cocaine contains levamisole. The Halifax Regional Police doesn’t test seized cocaine for for levamisole specifically. When officers do notice traces of levamisole in chemical analyses of cocaine, we don’t always hear about it. “We have seen cases of it here,” says police spokesperson Brian Palmeter, recalling that an investigator seized some levamisole-cut cocaine in the fall.
Levamisole is cut into cocaine before it hits Canada, so trusting one’s dealer doesn’t help one make safer choices. Requiring law enforcement to update the public about the composition of seized cocaine would help users make informed decisions though. So would following the lead of cities like Seattle by giving users affordable access to levamisole-detecting test kits for cocaine.
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.
Fucking rediculous. Lets use our tax dollars to subsidize kits to test illegal drugs. What burns me is people use who don’t contribute to society, who think this kit should be free.. Whatever. If they want to snort that life ruining shit into their face they have bigger problems. The hospital visits should be out of pocket that are 100% directly related to this, or they are arrested for not paying. I’m sick of losers wasting away on this shit while I work 40 hours a week at one job and 20 hours a week at another job to pay taxes so they can party and run up the health system fees. LUDACRIS!
It is added instead of baking soda, etc. because it is almost identical to cocaine chemically, cannot be separated with traditional purification methods, and is even very difficult to tell apart at high magnification. Thus, even someone with large amounts of resources and a stake in the purity of coke (i.e. international traffickers) would not be able to tell their coke is cut with it.
P.S. the title has a typo “evamisole”. the word has an “L” at the beginning of it.
The remedy is not in providing the kits to trace Levamisole from cocaine, what authorities should focus on (and spend tax dollars on) is the prevention of drugs entering Canada and making its citizens addicted to it. Is cocaine use legal in Canada? if so – then we have no discussion about whether it is pure coke or not. Let it destroy the brains out of its people.
To help users make informed decisions, how about informing them that cocaine is an addictive, illegal, narcotic that is manufactured, distributed, and sold by criminals?
If you’re stupid enough to use cocaine – good on you!! IDIOTS!!!
ALthough I don’t wish to appear insensitive. Why should our tax dollars be used to give free test kits to cocaine users ?
If they can afford cocaine, they can afford a test kit.
I may not use cocaine, not even if its free, but I am one of the many here who the Government makes even more off me, because I drink alcohol. If they want to give away free test kits ,how about making them available to drivers…I fail the test ,I take a cab !
THat IMO makes more sense than coke test kits, but not much more !
“Informed decisions”? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
This isn’t the Pepsi challenge, clown. Innocent Mexican citizens are getting slaughtered with bullets [probably] paid for with Hali coke money, and your response is to post some “journalist’s” pretentious, whiny articles about some asshole coke fiend’s inconvenience? That woman’s January letter to the editor was right – this mag really is starting to sound like some pissy, self-centered adolescent.
They know the risks, they know the dangers. If they can’t accept living with the consequences of their actions (which seems to be the theme around here) then Fuck ‘Em!
There is nothing “whiny” or “self centered” about suggesting that we take a more active role in working to reduce the human cost of cocaine use in Halifax. I think we all agree that the purchase of cocaine is far from ethical when one considers that the cocaine industry has displaced and destroyed the lives of many in cocaine producing regions. But seeing people struggling with addictions and engaging in risky behavior in your community and saying “Fuck Em” is also far from ethical. It would be best if all those addicted to cocaine could simply stop abusing the drug, but that’s far from likely.
If cocaine addicts knew that doing a line could trigger a total immune system crash, then they might think twice before endangering their health. I’m inspired by the work of harm reduction organizations such as DanceSafe (http://dancesafe.org/) in Seattle, which distributed hundreds of free test kits to drug users to help prevent drug-related deaths and illnesses.
ever think that maybe people who use cocaine are people like you? people that work 40hours a week, and work a second job? have kids and families? not everyone that indulges in drugs are “crack heads”, or “addicts”. if you want to charge hospital bills to people who are put through the ER or hospital, the same can be said for people who eat poorly, overweight, drink, smoke, have unsafe sex, walk out into the streets(cause you drive a hummer and throw tonnes of waste into the air). we all know that there is going to be drug use, what i think they are talking about is making it as safe as possible. the police and government will never stop the trafficking of drugs. ever. end of story. so why not be as safe as we can. we give our kids in schools condoms, why not drug test kits? people who use drugs more often than not know the consequences, the same as you do when you eat a big mac. just remember that the “users” and “addicts” are only that until they become your sister, brother, mother, daughter, son or father. its so easy for people to say things such as the previous comments until it affects them. think people, think.
I know that there are ‘people like me’ doing coke, oh wait, they aren’t like me. I don’t do coke. Fuck ’em.
legalize and regulate!
that is the only way to achieve quality control. hardly anyone dies these days from tainted booze, unlike in the 30s with the prohibition.
Here are two articles, one about Portugal and the other the Netherlands, discussing decreased crime rates, decreased health issues, closed jails, and a lessened tax burden on each populace for taking a treatment not jail approach to drugs:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.…
http://www.lifemeanshealth.com/health-vide…
Hmmm.. Interesting article. I had no idea people were pro cocaine here!
DaveChapman, Food Fan, speck, et al, I get your point and enjoyed your comments (“This isn’t the Pepsi Challenge, clown”…classic).
But here’s the thing: drugs have been around for centuries. Centuries. Do you really think most people who do drugs are unaware of the potential dangers? That they think it is safe? Really?
True, many get into it without realizing the true nature of addiction, etc. but clearly scare tactics HAVE NOT WORKED THUS FAR.
Hundreds of years later, we as a society are still left to clean up the mess that addicts and criminals leave behind. It’s human nature. This will never change.
So rather than saying “let them wallow in their own shit” we need a change in attitude.
Why? If not because we care then because it’ll be you or your kids who get mugged or knifed or worse because some junkie needs his fix.
And that is the bottom line.
Phew. I find it hard to say that I’d like my tax dollars to go towards making being a junkie “safer”. It’s not like the person can’t help it, it is a CHOICE, with known risks which are MUCH higher than anything else listed (obesity, smoking, alchohol…) I have known people who have hit ROCK BOTTOM doing things like coke and x, and you know what? One is finishing a degree in criminology at the end of this year. He quit, recovered, and did something. This is not about “scare tactics & prohibition” VS “legalization and regulation” its about someone making a smart or stupid choice. Even if someone was addicted, they still have a choice to change. In my opinion, you can’t help someone who won’t help themselves. Let em sniff all the fucking pesticide they want. The risks are in the open, they know the chances. Even if coke WAS legal and regulated, it still has an ungodly power to fuck people’s finances, personal lives and professional careers.
I don’t accept that the only solution is to make snorting coke an easier choice or a safer choice. The solution is less people snorting less coke. Not more people snorting safer coke.
Wow.
Lot’s of people seem to complain about tax dollars being used to assist users of illegal drugs in any way.
But do any of you mind the MILLIONS of tax dollars that have been spent on police budgets, prisons and propaganda to enforce a prohibition that historically has never worked?
Maybe health system costs might drop if these so called “junkies” could access quality controlled drugs, trust worthy information and safe places to use, resulting in fewer accidents and overdoses. Not to mention maybe the number of gang members admitted to hospitals for gun shots and stab wounds might drop, if this “war” on drugs didn’t force the sale of these popular substances into the hands of pirates.
According to CBC 73% of the $368 million spent by the Canadian government on targeting illicit drugs in 2004–2005 went toward law enforcement rather than treatment, prevention or harm reduction. So maybe you should stop complaining about the 27% that actually helps people and focus on how the government is really boning you.
I see the realism in your statements goodbunny… I really do. But at the end of the day, those substances are illegal, and for a reason. I’ll drop the point about “dollars” and bring it to this: my personal values (from experience) tell me that anything harder than pot is typically detrimental to the user, no matter how they can “handle” it. How can I condone that for anyone? Personally, I just can’t accept it.
well to the idiot who made the comment about being stupid i have a few words for you…..i am one of those victims that suffered the effects of levamisole in the cocaine,Iwas in the hospital for 4 months had 2 plastic surgerys my legs look like they were in a fire……stupidity has nothin to do with it….making the wrong choices in life does…..do you think that when i was a little girl when i was asked what i wanted to be when i grew up i answered a cocaine addict,,,,now i dont exspect you to understand no one can unless they’ve walked a mile in my shoes but don’t judge us cause who the hell are you to judge anyways……please….lol
the disease of addiction is exactly that, a disease. it is not a moral deficiency and does not make someone a “loser” or “stupid enough to use cocaine”. Addiction and alcoholism are very complex and unless you are an addict or alcoholic it is very hard to fully comprehend what going on in the mind of someone in active addiction. I can say this because I am an addict in recovery. as someone earlier said, when I was a kid I didn’t think “when I grow up, I want to waste all of my money, destroy relationships with family and friends and nearly kill myself on several occasions”…..but I did. Addiction, like depression, is a mental disorder that is still gaining recognition and acceptance by the general population. you can’t order an addict “to get up and get better and stop wasting money in the health system” any more than you could tell a diabetic or cancer patient. Just consider yourself fortunate that you have not had to go through what many of us addicts have gone through.
Yikes this is scary… glad I haven’t done that stuff in years
And… FYI: Levamisole hydrochloride is only slightly soluble in absolute ethanol. So if you want to use cocaine I suggest you learn a few chemical processing techniques. Cocaine Hydrochloride is freely soluble in ethanol. Simply adding a small amount of ethanol to your sample will dissolve all the cocaine leaving levamisole behind. Filter off the levamisole and then evaporate off the alcohol from the cocaine solution and you will have mostly pure cocaine except for other cuts that may be soluble in ethanol.
Here is the REAL truth why drugs should be legalized.
First of all it has nothing to do with making them easier to get and use. It certainly does have a role in making the drug itself safer, because that of course is a good investment for our healthcare industry, but my real point here is drug education. Right now if you went on the street and asked someone to tell you the serious implications of why one should not do cocaine, besides the glamorized government funded “drug war” information, which is not scientifically founded for the most part (because they are illegal and it’s difficult to get a grant for research on these substances). For example with cocaine there is a new cutting agent that is being used called Levamisole, and it is causing a lot of problems. If people were better informed about what exactly they are putting into their bodies, I think a lot of people would make better decisions!
You have to keep in mind that when people get addicted to drugs they feel like they are making the best decision they can. Nobody tries to make a mistake or screw their life up on purpose. Come on, what’s the point of living if that’s what you’re trying to do? The truth is people are making these decisions with either false or very limited information because our government has decided to take a very aggressive and not humane way to deal with the drug problem which is affecting families everywhere. This is a real problem and there is no reason we should stick our heads in the sand when the topic comes up because this is going to save a lot of lives! Stop thinking that drugs are bad mm’kay, realize that the current system in place for illegal drugs is not the best way of controlling them and that there are better ways of doing things. I am not suggesting putting cocaine in bottles on retail shelves! I am suggesting we legalize these substances so that more research can be done on them and we can find out the REAL truth behind these drugs. Without science we are not going to be able to figure out what these substances can do for man-kind, truly, if anything at all. And if they are going to cause more harm than good, we need to find out why so that people better understand and when they decide to snort that line, they are going to choose NOT to because they are better informed about what they are putting into their bodies.
Not only that but by legalizing these drugs we are taking them out of the hands of criminals, who are definitely not doctors and should NOT be handling very powerful psychoactive substances, and put it in the hands of the Government who has the peoples best interest in mind (or at least, we hope so). Who would you rather buy tylenol from, a street dealer who will put unknown fillers/substances into it, beef up the price, but tell you “My shit is better it’ll kill that headache way better than normal tylenol” or would you rather get it from a source that has the resources to do scientific research on the product and be able to better inform its public of what exactly its doing? That there is the difference with some of the current illegal drugs versus how they would be if they were legal. Again, I’m not specifying ALL drugs be legalized the same way! They all need to be legalized but controlled in different ways based on the way these substances work. Like how alcohol business and cigarrette business is controlled in todays economics. Heck, did you know they have a political office strictly for the alcohol trade?
And that is why it needs to be legalized! Let the government control these drugs, not the cartels!