COCAINE LACED WITH VET DRUG OFFERS FATAL HIGH

CALGARY - Cops say recent cases of people hospitalized after using
cocaine tainted with a dangerous veterinary drug is another reminder
illicit substances come with no quality-control.

Winnipeg health officials blame cocaine tainted with levamisole, a
chemical compound developed to treat intestinal worms, for sending two
individuals to hospital with a potentially fatal illness over the past
two weeks.

Similar tainting of cocaine has also been found in Alberta in the last
year.

Calgary Drug Unit acting Staff Sgt. Collin Harris said cases of
levamisole-tainted cocaine have been documented across Canada and the
United States.

While he hasn't heard of recent cases here, he said there is an
ever-present risk to street-drug use because dealers use anything from
baby power to Benzocaine (a local anaesthetic) as filler to boost
profits despite the harm it might pose to users.

"They don't care what they put into it as long as they get their
money," he said. "The entire idea is to increase their profits."

Last year, public health officials in Alberta put out a warning after
seven people in the province developed agranulocytosis, a potentially
deadly form of immune-system suppression.

The cases were linked to cocaine contaminated with levamisole, which
was likely used as a cutting agent.

"In addition to the known health risks associated with illegal drug
use, this highlights the kind of danger involved in street-drug use,"
Dr. Gerry Predy, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said at
the time.

Harris said police are always watching for trends in other
jurisdictions to hit here and the recent Winnipeg cases, albeit
disturbing, are not shocking given realities of the drug realm.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. They use whatever they can get their
hands on to make product go further," Harris said of dealers.