Drug info - Cocaine cut with cancerous drug!!

[Alicia]

Swia apologizes now she thought it should be in the news section hope, its useful folks.

Source Metro News
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....&in_page_id=34

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Cocaine cut with cancerous drugs
Thursday, November 23, 2006

Cocaine users were warned the drug is increasingly being cut with a chemical which puts them at a 'very high risk of getting cancer'.

Phenacetin, a banned pain killer which has been linked to kidney and liver cancer, is now the number one cutting agent used by cocaine dealers to bulk out the drug according to experts from the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency.

The carcinogenic chemical has a numbing effect similar to cocaine which disguises the drug is impure.

Soca say street prices of cocaine are going down while wholesale prices are going up due to the Class A drug being sold at lower qualities - meaning users are taking more phenacetin.

'The average purity of street cocaine used to be around 30 or 40 per cent now we finding it more commonly between 20 and 30 per cent,' said a Soca spokesman.

'People could be unwittingly exposing themselves to a very high risk of getting cancer by taking cocaine.'

Cocaine is also sometimes cut with sweetener Mannitol, bicarbonate soda and anaesthetics Benzocaine and lignocaine but are not as dangerous as phenacetin.

Bill Hughes, director general of Soca, said while cocaine was now being considered by some users as a 'champagne' drug, the dangers were clearer than ever.

'People are taken in by this nonsense that cocaine is some sort of champagne of drugs.

'Unlike champagne that is subjected to strict manufacturing criteria, this stuff is basically rubbish and it will cause you harm.'

Spokesman for drugs charity DrugScope Henry Shapira says the increased use of phenacetin use is a worry.

He said: 'If cocaine is being cut to 20 per cent purity for a long period of time and the bulk of it was phenacetin then certainly that would be a concern.'

Phenacetin was found to be cancerous in lab rats and has been linked to an increase in death in humans due to cancer, urothelial and renal disease and cardiovascular disease.

Its use is now strictly regulated.


The news comes as new figures released by the Home Office finds that Class A drugs like cocaine are now costing £15bn annually in social and economic costs.

Separate figures from European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drugs Addiction suggest Britons consume more cocaine than almost any other European Union nation.

Almost 5 per cent of young people in England and Wales have tried the drug in the last year, while use among all adults has almost tripled in the past decade.

The Magistrates Association decided to lobby the Government to reverse the controversial reclassification of cannabis from Class B to Class C at their annual conference yesterday.

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Whats Phenacetin?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacetin

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good find

[Jatelka]

And here is the bbc's version:

Cocaine's street price is falling as it is being cut with carcinogenic painkiller phenacetin, police say.

The warning from the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) comes as new figures are released detailing the use of Class A drugs in the UK.
Drugs like cocaine are now responsible for a £15bn annual bill in social and economic costs, says the Home Office.

And separate figures suggest Britons consume more cocaine than almost any other European Union nation.

Soca, which was specifically set up to find new ways of targeting major international criminal networks, has warned that although the price of cocaine is rising globally, its final street value is dropping in the UK. The reason for the fall is because drugs gangs are using cutting agents - substances added to cocaine - to dilute its purity.


The average purity of manufactured cocaine is 70%. But investigators believe dealers in Britain are now selling the drug with purity as low as 30%.

Analysis of drugs seizures has found increasing use of low cost chemical additives to bulk the weight of the drug. Phenacetin is one of the key chemicals now being used because it closely resembles pure cocaine.
The painkiller was initially banned from general use in 1968 after it was linked to bladder and kidney cancer.

The ban was later revoked - but its legal use is highly restricted because of the dangers it poses.

HOW COCAINE'S VALUE RISES
Production: £1,000/kg
To Europe: £18,000/kg
To UK: £28,000/kg
At 50% pure: £43,000/kg
At 30% pure: £66,500/kg
Buyers at all levels of market


Drug dogs
Bill Hughes, director general of Soca, said while cocaine was now being considered by some users as a "champagne" drug, the dangers were clearer than ever.

Demand for cocaine has risen so much in recent years in the UK that smugglers are attempting to smuggle the substance into the UK in dogs as well as human "drug mules".


In the case of dogs, the drug is wrapped in latex and then sewn between the skin and stomach lining of the animal.

Officers have found six dogs alive with 49 latex packages inside their bodies, weighing a total of 4.3kg.

Human drug swallowers will normally be expected to smuggle in up to 1kg of the drug in sealed packages.

In separate figures, research suggests that more cocaine is now being taken in the UK than in almost every other EU country.

Almost 5% of young people in England and Wales have tried the drug in the last year, while use among all adults has almost tripled in the past decade.
Use is up more than four-fold for 15 to 24-year-olds in the last 12 years.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has said that each "problematic" heroin or crack cocaine user cost the country more than £44,000 in theft, fraud, healthcare, police and judicial costs. It estimates there are 327,000 of these problem users in England.

*Still think this belongs in "Cocaine and Coca" though

[Alicia]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

*Still think this belongs in "Cocaine and Coca" though

my bad... im a hard learner.. hehehehehe.. thanks x

[SubSonic7]

I'd just like to put forward the suggestion that there is always a certain amount of government propaganda with stories like this. Sure, i don't doubt for a second that there are cases of this going on. Mainly on city streets where people are buying off of strangers, which as we all know is not usually the case for most users. However when a story like this surfaces, the government and police force latch onto it and blow it out of all proportion for their own agenda.
Its is however a reminder not to take anything for granted and that you are taking a risk every time you use an illegal substance.
I just think you should always take these issues with a fist full of salt an any story issued to the press these days is backed up by a political agenda.

[Lunar Loops]

Does any other SWIY have any information on this? Is it merely propoganda (well it obviously is, but is there any 'real' evidence to back it up?)?

This from Scotland on Sunday:

Cancer-causing painkiller found in 60% of British cocaine hauls

RICHARD ELIAS

AS MUCH as 60% of the cocaine seized in Britain has been found to have traces of a once-banned, cancer-causing painkiller.
Phenacetin was used by UK dentists until fears arose about its safety several decades ago.
It has been linked to cancers of the kidney, bladder and liver following a series of laboratory tests and replaced with similar but less harmful products.
But drug traffickers have realised its potential and have started mixing it with cocaine to "bulk out" their product.
A Customs investigator said: "The risk of getting cancer is greatly increased if you are a cocaine user. That is a straightforward fact."
As well as appearing similar in colour and consistency to cocaine, phenacetin also provides users with a "hit", albeit a brief one.
It retails for around £3,000 for a kilo and when mixed with the same amount of cocaine - which sells for about £28,000 - it means the dealers can virtually double their profits.
A senior Customs source said: "We are finding phenacetin more and more frequently in the cocaine that we are seizing. Although we cannot be precise about the frequency of its use in the UK, I would say that between 50% and 60% of the seizures we have made up and down the country have subsequently been found to have traces of the agent in them."
Another problem is that falling street prices have resulted in a drop in purity meaning users are having to take more of the drug to get their required hit, with the result that they are consuming more phenacetin.
The source added: "People think we are being killjoys when we speak about the potential harm cocaine can cause. It is still seen as a harmless, sophisticated drug which does not have ill-effects but here is the living proof that it is potentially fatal."
Phenacetin does not have any other use than a painkiller and is mainly produced in Spain. It was initially banned in the late 1960s, but production resumed some years later under strict guidelines.
Phenacetin can be legally imported into the UK and does not require licensing unless the buyer intends to alter its chemical make-up.
The "bulking" of cocaine has been practised for many years by traffickers, but usually the drug is cut and then mixed with a harmless substance.
However, phenacetin has the effect of numbing the user - in an almost identical way to cocaine - so they do not have any idea that they are taking a tainted drug.
The Customs source said: "People taking cocaine have been warned in the past about it being mixed with dog worming tablets, baking powder or suchlike, but this, obviously, is much, much more serious.
"The laboratory tests for this agent show just how real the risks of contracting cancer are for cocaine users."
A recent report on phenacetin in an American medical magazine stated "chronic users of analgesic drugs containing phenacetin are at increased risk of developing hypertension and of dying from cancer or diseases of the kidneys, heart or circulatory system.
"This follows a 20-year study of 623 then healthy women aged 30 to 49 who regularly took phenacetin for chronic aches and pains."
It continued: "According to the study, the women who took phenacetin-containing painkillers doubled their chances of dying.
"They were l6 times more likely to have a kidney disease or one in the urinary tract, almost twice as likely to die of cancer, and almost three times as likely to die of heart disease whilst the risk of developing cardiovascular disease was nearly two to one."
Cocaine use in Scotland has soared in recent years, despite repeated campaigns to highlight its danger to the public. Earlier this summer, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency launched a drive to target users, focusing on the ethics of the drug.
Detective Superintendent Willie MacColl, the organisation's national drugs coordinator, said: "People boycott disposable nappies, choose organic vegetables and Fairtrade goods such as coffee but these same people think nothing of having a line of cocaine that's caused immeasurable harm."

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good heads-up. Looks like this may be for real, so users need to beware

[Pondlife]

Here's another article on this from the BBC that dates back to November 2006: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6178026.stm

Cancer chemical in street cocaine
23 November 2006

Cocaine's street price is falling as it is being cut with carcinogenic painkiller phenacetin, police say.

The warning from the UK's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) comes as new figures are released detailing the use of Class A drugs in the UK.

Drugs like cocaine are now responsible for a £15bn annual bill in social and economic costs, says the Home Office.

And separate figures suggest Britons consume more cocaine than almost any other European Union nation.

Soca, which was specifically set up to find new ways of targeting major international criminal networks, has warned that although the price of cocaine is rising globally, its final street value is dropping in the UK.

The reason for the fall is because drugs gangs are using cutting agents - substances added to cocaine - to dilute its purity.

A dog with cocaine sewn into its body
Customs officers are finding dogs with cocaine sewn into their bodies

The average purity of manufactured cocaine is 70%. But investigators believe dealers in Britain are now selling the drug with purity as low as 30%.

Analysis of drugs seizures has found increasing use of low cost chemical additives to bulk the weight of the drug. Phenacetin is one of the key chemicals now being used because it closely resembles pure cocaine.

The painkiller was initially banned from general use in 1968 after it was linked to bladder and kidney cancer.

The ban was later revoked - but its legal use is highly restricted because of the dangers it poses.

Drug dogs

Bill Hughes, director general of Soca, said while cocaine was now being considered by some users as a "champagne" drug, the dangers were clearer than ever.

Demand for cocaine has risen so much in recent years in the UK that smugglers are attempting to smuggle the substance into the UK in dogs as well as human "drug mules".

UK 'European cocaine capital'

In the case of dogs, the drug is wrapped in latex and then sewn between the skin and stomach lining of the animal.

Officers have found six dogs alive with 49 latex packages inside their bodies, weighing a total of 4.3kg.

Human drug swallowers will normally be expected to smuggle in up to 1kg of the drug in sealed packages.

In separate figures, research suggests that more cocaine is now being taken in the UK than in almost every other EU country.

Almost 5% of young people in England and Wales have tried the drug in the last year, while use among all adults has almost tripled in the past decade.

Use is up more than four-fold for 15 to 24-year-olds in the last 12 years.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has said that each "problematic" heroin or crack cocaine user cost the country more than £44,000 in theft, fraud, healthcare, police and judicial costs.

It estimates there are 327,000 of these problem users in England.

It's also mentioned on the wikipedia page for Phenacetin, using the above BBC article as the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenacetin

Use as a filler for illegal cocaine

Phenacetin is now being widely used as a cutting agent to adulterate illegally supplied cocaine due to the similar physical features of the two drugs.

[Jatelka]

I'm sure Alicia posted something like this a while back

EDIT: Here it is...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...ghlight=cancer

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

I'm sure Alicia posted something like this a while back

EDIT: Here it is...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...ghlight=cancer

Thanks for the links. Thought it was still newsworthy as it is a new article and it mentions a figure of 60% (rather high).

[dirk]

This part of the first piece made me roll my eyes once more

acording to the study, the women who took phenacetin-containing painkillers doubled their chances of dying.

correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought we all had a 100% chance of dying anyway.

[dbjay417]

LoL

Scare Tactics...

The Governments of the world really gotta stop working this angle. Its old and tired, they need to just let it die.

[beentheredonethatagain]

NIK ( no-one I know ) thinks that the meth that is going around is cut with some kind of toxic substance, it makes him feel ill, kind of spacey and body aches.