Cocaine and adulterants
I happened to eat a pair of lines of coke. They tasted a whole lot like caffeine. I don’t have much experience with coke, but I think I can tell that it did contain real cocaine by how it anesthetized my tongue. But I know caffeine really well, and that tasted a lot like it. Is that normal for cocaine? Do all extracted crystalline alkaloids taste like that? An anesthetic effect is not indicative of cocaine purity. Other local anaesthetics (lidocaine, benzocaine, tetracaine…) produce this effect and these are common adulterants of cocaine (exactly for that reason)....
Read MoreCocaine IV and adulterants
A close friend of mine recently purchased cocaine (which, in our geographical location, is complete SHIT aka 10-20% tops) and, he IV’s it. The problem: I know for a FACT that the dealer cuts with lidocaine and dextrose (e.g. 1.0G substance = 0.2G Cocaine + .4G lidocaine + .4G dextrose — about correct numbers). I’ve been trying to convince him that its DANGEROUS to iv this “substance” but he refuses to agree, and continues making purchases. I witnessed his last shot (he usually does a 300-400mg shot each time) and he claimed to “have a weezey stomach...
Read MoreMethemoglobinemia and local anaesthesia
I have an MD in the family who says that almost any “Caine” can cause serious problems with blood oxygenation and that they were taught in med school of a few instances of deaths due to OTC numbing agents like Orajel. Is this true? Both benzocaine and lidocaine can produce a rare condition called methemoglobinemia, in which proteins binding oxigen in blood get oxidized and cannot transport oxigen. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2263062/ It is an extremely rare condition, but...
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