High Percentage of SF Cocaine Cut with Animal Deworming Medication

Photo: Straight.com

by Jerry James Stone

According to San Francisco General Hospital, 90-percent of all patients who've tested positive for cocaine use have also tested positive for the animal deworming drug levamisole.

U.S. health officials first warned of the drug in September and the CDC just reported that 69-percent of all cocaine seized in the U.S. is tainted with it. While cocaine is often cut with other drugs to both increase its weight and potency, officials don't know why levamisole is being used.

The drug can cause agranulocytosis, which significantly reduces the number of white blood cells in the body causing fever, swollen glands, and painful sores around the mouth and anus. And women seem to be more affected by levamisole than men are.

"If 90 percent of cocaine users in San Francisco are positive for levamisole and are being exposed to this compound, then why aren't 90 percent of them in the emergency room with these side effects?" asks Kara Lynch, associate chief of the chemistry and toxicology lab at S.F. General.

Oddly enough, San Francisco patients are experiencing a condition that others are not: their skin is turning black! Dr. Jonathan Graf, an assistant professor at S.F. General says their skin appears to be "sloughing" off. He feels that there are other cases of this happening but that people just aren't going to see doctors about it.

It's worth noting that the drug levamisole was found in DJ AM's body along with cocaine, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, and Benadryl. The entertainer died of an overdose three months ago.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@sfist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jerry James Stone in News on December 29, 2009 11:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Delray Recovery

Google "Delray Recovery Center" to get for a cocaine addiction

Hydrocodone Addiction

In the United States 24 percent of teenagers studied admitted to smoking marijuana in 2006. These numbers were down 12 percent from a previous 2002 survey. In Canada the numbers were also down an average of 12 percent

Methamphetamine-Abuse

Local health and law enforcement officials have launched a campaign to make it easier for people to dispose of prescription medications in order to curb the alarming rate of accidents and deaths caused by them. Steel drop boxes are being placed at police stations so that people can ... Just last month a twelve year old girl died after her mother gave her part of her methadone dose for an injured knee. Consider using these new drop boxes to dispose of old or unused ...

jst1

Hydrocodone is the active ingredient in prescription drugs such as Loritab, Lorcet, and Vicodin,
which can be taken in a pill form or by liquid. It becomes both
emotionally and physically addictive when taken beyond the recommended
use by a physician.

Initially, hydrocodone acts as a "block" to pain receptors in the
brain, producing a euphoric and enjoyable feeling. The initial feeling
is very rarely recreated but the hydrocodone addict continues to try,
and does so by increasing the amount of hydrocodone they use and the
frequency with which they use it. The only thing they manage to create
is a greater tolerance to the drug, which causes habitual use leading to
a hydrocodone addiction.
Hydrocodone Addiction

JVMFan

Addict Nation (new book) points out that cocaine is taking a back seat to prescription drugs. There’s a growing trend in America to try and solve all manner of discomfort, real or imagined, physical or emotional, with a pill. Pharmaceutical drugs like Vicodin, Oxycodone, Ambien, Xanax, Klonopin, and Valium fill our medicine cabinets and it’s killing us. Nationwide, deaths from prescription drug overdoses are the second-leading cause of accidental death behind car accidents. In some states, prescription O.D.’s are the leading cause of accidental death.

TheLastResortRecovery

Anything that brings more awareness to addiction or recovery is a good thing. Too many people die every year and way too many others never find the true joy and happiness they seek because they drown in the sea of drugs!

Dan Callahan

http://www.Rehabilitation-Center.org

ohamerica

Cocaine is also processed with gasoline before it's shipped out of the jungle. VRROOM! VRROOM!

Marla

*fyi vicodin is hydrocodone.

Bike Rider

dont bother with it north of the border

cuddles

Hate to be a pedant, but your headline is misleading. No, it's just wrong. This is the right question to be asking:

"If 90 percent of cocaine users in San Francisco are positive for levamisole and are being exposed to this compound, then why aren't 90 percent of them in the emergency room with these side effects?" asks Kara Lynch, associate chief of the chemistry and toxicology lab at S.F. General.

And here is the answer: There is a distinct difference between the total population of cocaine users in SF and the population of cocaine users admitted to SF general. If people use coke laced with a drug that causes medical problems, these people are far more likely to be admitted to the hospital with drug-related medical problems than people using un-laced cocaine. This population is heavily biased in favor of those who used laced cocaine. Thus the 90% figure is off, but there is no telling by how much based on this information.

BeejW

I may be dating myself here, but whatever happened to cutting coke with good ol' baby laxative?

Kevin C.

OMG BREAKING NEWS! Your cocaine, could maybe, possibly, just a little bit, be cut with something thats not good for you! I would have never ever have guessed!

This is as bad as the last time I watch local news and they had a report that "uncooked chick MAY contain bacteria"

generic

mmm ... cocaine ...

generic

speaking of which, I wonder if Brock ever got his Tom Ford cologne?

smb2009

"cocaine, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin, and Benadryl."

DJ AM was trying to hard to recreate "feel good hit of the summer" but ended up pulling a Rick James.