Tainted Cocaine Causing Rotting Skin Condition across US
Doctors in San Francisco, LA and Rochester New York are saying that levamisole (an agricultural de-worming agent) tainted cocaine is causing people to show up in hospitals with purplish decaying skin on the face and ears.
The vast majority of cocaine sold at the retail level in America is cut with an agricultural de-worming drug that drug traffickers use to boosts cocaine’s potency and stretch their profits (by 2009, DEA tests revealed 70% contamination).
But while adding agricultural supplies to the powder might make good financial sense to a drug baron, it may not be what the casual user would want, especially since doctors say that it’s causing users to develop a condition called purpura.
Purpura manifests as painful purplish dead and decaying skin, generally around the ears or face. The condition is very uncomfortable and people with purpura are at increased risk of developing peripheral infections.
A team of doctors who published a study on the cocaine caused condition say that at first, no one could figure out what was causing the increase of purpura being seen in hospital emergency rooms across the country. It wasn’t until they looked at levamisole as a possible culprit and doctors began testing purpura subjects for cocaine that things started to make a little more sense. Dermatologist and contributing study author Dr. Mary Gail Mercurio explained, saying, "When we first started seeing these patients they all had a similar clinical picture, but they were really an enigma because they weren't falling into any other pattern we'd seen before. When a colleague at the National Institutes of Health mentioned levamisole contamination, we did toxicity screens and lo-and-behold, all the patients came up positive for cocaine. We had our diagnosis."
The study authors say they aren’t sure how levamisole is causing the disorder, but say that purpura is treatable and that the condition goes away with cessation of tainted cocaine use. Overall, however, the medical researchers aren’t so optimistic, warning, "We believe these cases of skin reactions and illnesses linked to contaminated cocaine are just the tip of the iceberg in a looming public health problem posed by levamisole.”
More like this
Smoking Cigarettes Increases Risk of Cocaine Addiction
Trying to quit cocaine? You might want to consider ditching cigarettes at the same time. New research suggests that nicotine amplifies cocaine’s effects and addictiveness…just remember not to use nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine gum or the patch, as these too increase cocaine’s effects.
Tainted Cocaine in San Francisco Turns the Skin of Drug Users Black
8 Patients in San Francisco have developed some form of autoimmune disorder that causes their skin to blacken and slough off. Doctors think the condition is caused by poisoning from levamisole (a veterinary medication) that is added to cocaine.
Tainted Cocaine Causes 42 Cases of Neutropenia in Alberta and B.C.
The majority of North American cocaine is now spiked with levamisole, which can cause a dangerous or fatal blood disorder called neutropenia. Public health officials in Canada who are monitoring the situation say that over 15 months, 42 people in 2 provinces contracted the condition from tainted cocaine.
Medical Group Warns that Common Heart Attack Medications Can Be Deadly for Cocaine Users
The American Heart Association has recommended that doctors start asking emergency room visitors complaining of chest pain, whether they had been using cocaine.
Cocaine Users More Likely to Overdose in Warmer Weather
Researchers say that after 75 degrees Fahrenheit, cocaine overdoses start to increase – and as the mercury rises, so do the risks.