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Cocaine ATTN: Coke users - Levamisole FAQ

Tchort

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
2,392
The news that a very significant portion of illicit Cocaine is being cut with Levamisole (Wormicid, Levasole), a veterinary de-worming agent, at the countr[y/ies] of origin, has serious global implications.

I believe it is very important for all of us to contribute to the creation of a comprehensive text document that can be distributed via e-mail and posted on websites with all relevant and currently known information about this problem.

Currently there is a good thread in DiTM Front Page with several news articles about this subject that are full of poignant information.

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/showthread.php?t=460138

Here is a thread from ADD that may give us an idea why Levamisole is being added as a cut, or, what causes people (news organizations) to believe it is not just a cut, but is an additive to Cocaine's pleasurable dopaminergic effects:

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/showthread.php?t=460421

And the all important Wikipedia file:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levamisole

Should there be 1 comprehensive, detailed article including statistics of Levamisole prevalence in global illicit Cocaine, side effects of human consumption of Levamisole and Levamisole + Cocaine, Possible reasons it is added to Cocaine or how it could possibly affect the subjetive experience of Cocaine, LD50 and other medical information, etc

or

Just a brief overview of the who-what-when-where, a description of Levamisole, the warning signs of having taken Levamisole, the possible side effects and consequences if medical treatment is not sought immediately, for Cocaine users specifically

or

Both, two articles, one brief like a flier or brochure for Cocaine users, and one detailed article for websites that are frequented by drug users, or that could be sent to news outlets to help spread the word about this problem?
 
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I see great utility in both. Are there any reagents or other means that don't require a labratory to detect levamisole?
 
I see great utility in both. Are there any reagents or other means that don't require a labratory to detect levamisole?

I checked my lists of chemicals & reactions to reagents and saw no listing for levamisole. :(
 
A recent trend in cocaine production and distribution is steadily becoming a growing concern for illicit cocaine users. An old pharmaceutical that was withdrawn from the US market in 2000 and currently only resides in veterinary practice has cropped up as a prevalent cocaine cut.

Levamisole, an antihelminthic and immunomodulator that leads to severe health problems such as pneumonia and agranulocytosis is increasingly being used to cut cocaine.

*How prevalent is this phenomenon?*

Most recent official figures show approximately 70% of cocaine in the US to be cut with levamisole however regional studies have demonstrated findings up to 90% in some areas. While I do not have prevalence data in other countries, levamisole has been found throughout the western hemisphere, western europe and Australia as well.

Since the data collection on this is not yet widespread and largely conducted by law enforcement seizures of bulk product, the problem could be even larger than current estimates and the trend is certainly growing. Below is a chart by the DEA on the trend.

dea.jpg


*Why is Levamisole used?*

Below are excerpts from an article on the website The Stranger explaining why they suspect levamisole is being used to cut and possibly potentiate cocaine. Historically the cutting has been done closer to the street level, however the prevalence of the levamisole cut suggests that its being added higher up the cocaine production/distribution chain before even entering target market countries such as the United States. Suspected reasons why and how this is occuring will be discussed below.

In 2004, a controversy erupted in the horse-racing world. A string of trainers with long and distinguished reputations were accused of doping their horses after aminorex, an amphetamine, was detected in their animals' urine.
...

The horses had been injected with levamisole for deworming, which their bodies metabolized into speed. Studies in the 1970s had discovered that dogs experienced "mood elevation" after receiving doses of levamisole. And a 1998 study at Vanderbilt University showed that levamisole eased withdrawal symptoms in rats addicted to morphine.

That study caught the attention of Dr. Mike Clark, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harborview Medical Center, who also studies cocaine addiction in lab rats. "According to the study, levamisole acts on all three monoamine neurotransmitters," he says. "That's exactly what you'd expect from something that potentiates cocaine." In other words, levamisole may heighten cocaine's effects—or might be a stimulant all by itself. In the next few weeks, Dr. Clark will begin an experiment of his own to find out (among other things) whether levamisole, without any cocaine, can produce cocainelike effects in lab rats.source

The same peice by The Stranger further elucidates how this cut can largely go undetected as it is passed down the supply chain.

• Something about the chemical structure of levamisole retains the iridescent fish-scale sheen of pure cocaine, according to a chemist with ties to the cocaine trade, giving cocaine cut with levamisole the same appearance as pure cocaine.

• Levamisole is a bulking agent for crack. The process of making crack involves "washing" cocaine and filtering out impurities and cutting agents. Levamisole slips through this process, meaning you can produce more volume of crack with less pure cocaine.

• Levamisole passes the "bleach test," a simple street test used to detect impurities in cocaine. When dropped in Clorox, pure cocaine dissolves clearly. Procaine (a common cutting agent) turns reddish brown, lidocaine turns yellowish, and other impurities float to the bottom. In a lab test conducted by Dr. Clark, levamisole stayed clean and clear.source

*What health problems can levamisole cause?*

There is still a considerable amount unknown about the potential hazards of levamisole ingestion, especially when combined with cocaine. Generally, the first signs of problems due to levamisole are a sore throat and fever, however they can present in many ambiguous ways. Below is a list of known health effects associated with levamisole consumption.

-vasculitis
-neutropenia
-agranulocytosis
-flu-like symptoms
-fever
-skin infections
-mouth sores and anal sores
-leukopenia
-septicemia
-pneumonia

The most problematic of these potential health effects is agranulocytosis. This condition causes neutropenia which is a depletion of neutrophils, a specific type of infection-fighting white blood cell. This lack of neutrophils can easily result in rapidly-progressing infection in essentially any part of the body.

If you have been a heavy cocaine user or have demonstrated symptoms such as sore throat and fever, its imperative that you see a physician to have basic bloodwork like Complete Blood Count (CBC) and/or an Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) done.

A number of other drugs also can lead to agranulocytosis so those taking the substances listed below especially should avoid levamisole/cocaine and cocaine users should avoid these drugs as well.

*Drugs that increase agranuclocytosis risk*

-antiepileptics
-antithyroid drugs (carbimazole, methimazole, and propylthiouracil)
-antibiotics (penicillin, chloramphenicol and co-trimoxazole),
-cytotoxic drugs
-gold
-NSAIDs (indomethacin, naproxen, phenylbutazone, metamizole)
-mebendazole
-mirtazapine (Remeron)
-antipsychotics (the atypical antipsychotic clozapine).

*Clozapine users in the US must be nationally registered for monitoring of low WBC and absolute neutrophil counts (ANC).

*How can we reduce the harm associated with levamisole?*

Unfortunately, there is little being done on a national level to address this problem. Presently the harm reduction organization Dance Safe is developing field testing kits that can aid users in the detection of levamisole in their cocaine however these products are not yet available to consumers.

The most recent information on this process can be found here.

This thread will regularly be updated with any new information regarding ways to reduce the harms associated with levamisole-cut cocaine.

Below is a poster developed by King County, Washington's Public Health Officials warning cocaine users about levamisole.

alerty.jpg



_______________________________

This thread is a work in progress; as more information becomes known and ways to reduce the harm associated with levamisole become available, we will be updating this.

If you have *any* information pertaining to this, please add it below and PM myself or any of the OD staff so that it can be added to this original post to receive as much exposure as possible.
 
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What really needs to be determined is an *easy* and effective way to clean cocaine cut with levamisole.
 
^absolutely. I am skeptical that it would, but if le junk's method found here worked that'd be amazing.
 
^absolutely. I am skeptical that it would, but if le junk's method found here worked that'd be amazing.

Judging from this thread, your skepticism is well-founded.

A basic acetone bath definitely won't do the trick; as the article stated rocking it up won't do help either. :\
 
^how do you know it isn't cut if levamisole can potentiate the effects, appears like good coke and doesn't make it fail purity tests?

70+% of the cocaine in the US is cut with levamisole and this number has been growing. Its not done by unscrupulous local dealers as cuts have traditionally been. These cuts are so universal that they have to be cut by producers... which makes sense given the agrarian areas that cocaine is generally produced; many of the producers are farmers or are surounded by farmers so cheap levamisole is in surplus there.
 
I have have a similar question, how, even given you have a "great connection" unless you are in the country of the source, from my knowledge (I may be wrong), it doesn't matter, it is cut at the producer side first, is this correct or am I wrong?
Also reading other threads to see how/if it can be determined...
 
So this must dissolve completely clear when preparing a shot of coke right?cuz the coke I get disappears instantly after it hits the water.I thought it was just primo blow (since a lot of blow is like shooting a pill,lots of undissolved cuts)sucks that its in rock too,cuz if I can't find coke I'll add citric too rocks and they usually dissolve clear too.sometimes there's a clear liquid with a thin yellow film on top of the solution....wonder what that is?
 
I read not long ago that the DEA traced the levamisole back to Colombia. Is this correct? It's a pity more tests are not performed elsewhere, like in West Africa, where much of the C transits. If someone has data for 2010 let them post it at once. Note that the DEA figures are percentages of the seizures containing levamisole. They don't show whether the levamisole content actually increases on a gram per gram basis. Maybe levamisole is only getting "diluted" into the whole production. Users can live with levamisole being present in all samples, what they don't want is for levamisole to be present in hasardous amounts.

An incentive for producers to add levamisole would be if they'd found out it make the goods harde to detect by sniffer dogs. That's the kind of R&D producers would do. Only speculation though.
 
it always blows my mind to hear about stuff like this. i would think the producers of cocaine would spend a little money on R&D (it sounds funny, but the cocaine industry is as powerful and well organized as the pharmaceutical industry) to determine whether their cuts could kill somebody, since a dead customer can't pay the dealer, which in turn will work its way up the ladder to mean less profit for producers. Their job should be to keep us coming back day in and day out until we die.
 
^logically that makes sense, but its not that simple. There is a long chain from point of production to point of consumption. People along that path have unique motivations, desires, ethics, etc.

If every single person along that line is thinking long-term and wants to do this for a career their whole life, then there is plenty of incentive to ensure good, safe product. Do most willing to risk prison/death for profit think like this? Some at the top of large organizations certainly do, but partially due to quasi-successful operations like Plan Colombia, the trade has become far more decentralized.

Not to digress too far, but due to multinational corporations co-opting fruit production in areas like colombia and most coffee production likewise being controlled by multinational corporations or being produced in SE Asia these days due to cost, many farmers have begun growing coca and other illicit cash crops for subsistence.

There is a pretty big difference between the Medellin Cartel and some uneducated sharecropper essentially growing some coca plants to feed his family.

I am not an expert on the inner workings of those who have the most control over cocaine production... But no one is because its illegal so accurate information is limited. What we do know is that today's production side of the equation is far more decentralized.

I'm skeptical that cocaine producers are as organized and do R&D in any way comparable to pharmaceutical companies... There's no illicit FDA requiring all of that. Honestly, if Pfizer didn't have to do 10 years of testing and jump through 200 hoops do you think they would? If a drug became unprofitable to them, they'd just move on to the next one. If you do the math, making *some* corpses/losing some customers is still cheaper than extensive scientific testing and I really doubt drug producers have ever done a longitudinal study.

Furthermore, if you look at the history of Big Pharma lawsuits, many companies released drugs they knew to be harmful and even went so far as to suppress this data to sell it because in the end, they still made money. I got a (joke) gift of stock in Eli Lilley and so I follow them and they *knowingly* advertised off-label use of zyprexa despite this being illegal because after paying $700,000,000 total in 8,000 lawsuits, I'm still getting quarterly dividend checks.

I think many in business as well as drug production don't think long term and are far more reactionary than proactive and are always fixated on the bottom line. Without regulation of the drug world, however, much of this is speculative.
 
Absolute filth. I'd been away from this scene for 2 years until a recent binge which saw my friend buying every weekend & i was appalled at what now passes as 'cocaine', we got some 'good shit' once, the rest i'd be suprised if it was .5 %

One batch i had to wonder if there was ANY cocaine in there, it had a numbing effect, but no high, just a slightly edgy talky feel.

The 'good stuff' i had, which was pink oddly enough, gave a clean unmistakable feel to it, more of a mood lift than stimulation.
 
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So this must dissolve completely clear when preparing a shot of coke right?cuz the coke I get disappears instantly after it hits the water.I thought it was just primo blow (since a lot of blow is like shooting a pill,lots of undissolved cuts)sucks that its in rock too,cuz if I can't find coke I'll add citric too rocks and they usually dissolve clear too.sometimes there's a clear liquid with a thin yellow film on top of the solution....wonder what that is?

Tha yellow film might just be cocaine oils. A rock is hardened oils so if your disolving it back to liquid its gonna stay as an oil. Id say thats a sign of something good.

I too have to say that the cocaine I know of, is rediculously pure. I havent done any more almost 6 months, but the people I do know who get a steady supply, all swear by it. These people inject miltiple times a day without any adverse effects like those coupled with levamisole. I would go as far to say that I gurentee that suppl and that supply only to have no adulterants. It is from a high up source which may or may not help its chances, but the customer base all injects and for months and years. They have to ill adverse health problebs. There will be a teast soon im sure. Rock in it up with ammonia, might still rock up everything if its cut but Im guessing it would rock the good stuff into one pepple and the bad stuff would rock as flakes or small rocks scattered around.
 
^i don't know about that. I just know what was in that Seattle Stranger article that I quoted in the first post....

Levamisole is a bulking agent for crack. The process of making crack involves "washing"
cocaine and filtering out impurities and cutting agents. Levamisole slips through this process, meaning you can produce more volume of crack with less pure cocaine.
 
Has there been a solution posted to wash this stuff out? Or does the acetone wash originally posted do the trick?
 
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