According to federal officials observing drug trends and monitoring public-health problems, drug traffickers have adulterated much of the cocaine in the United States with a substance called levamisole, mostly used to deworm livestock but also used in humans as part of certain cancer treatments.
Levamisole can inhibit immune functions when ingested by healthy adults, reducing a person’s ability to stave off common infections. The Seattle King County Public Health department and New Mexico Department of Health have reported the additive in the United States. Patients in hospitals have had serious skin blackening, cough, nausea, diarrhea, and sores around the mouth and anus. In large doses, the drug can completely inhibit the immune system, preventing the body’s natural mechanisms from fighting infections and can result in death. Even small amounts of cocaine can contain large amounts of levamisole.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) says levamisole appeared in 69 percent of the drug it has seized in 2008. According to federal public health statistics, 36.7 million American reported having used cocaine in their lifetime in 2008.
Because levamisole survives the chemical process of converting cocaine to crack, many people believe drug suppliers add levamisole because it bulks up crack after being processed.
It is unclear where in the supply chain levamisole is being introduced into the cocaine heading to the U.S. (which largely originates in South America). Many experts suspect drug cartels are mixing levamisole with cocaine before it crosses the U.S. border. For example, the D.E.A. has reported that levamisole mixed with cocaine in plastics has appeared in Colombia, and officials have intercepted levamisole mixed with cocaine on a flight to New York City from Guyana.
Users most likely to experience levamisole-related problems are those who use a couple grams or more a week, DanceSafe believes.
DanceSafe believes that potential users ideally should be able to detect the presence of levamisole in cocaine before they use it. By developing a simple-to-use, inexpensive test, many poisonings could be averted--but no such test is widely available at this time. DanceSafe does not condone the use of cocaine—nor does the group condone the use of any drug—but the organization contends that people should defend themselves from potential harms with the best information possible so that they can make informed decisions. Considering the widespread prevalence of levamisole and the potential harm of this adulterant, DanceSafe believes such a test would help save lives.
UPDATE: DanceSafe is working with Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger to test the cocaine supply in that city as a test run of our new testing kit. See the full article.
