POLICE ISSUE WARNING OVER TAINTED COCAINE

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 the
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.

Drug Unit acting Staff Sgt. Collin Harris said cases of
levamisole-tainted cocaine, which can lead to a rare and potentially
deadly illness, are documented across Canada and the 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
bolster profits despite any 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."

This week the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said two adults were
hospitalized with neutropenia, a condition which weakens immune
systems, leaving people unable to fight off infections.

In severe cases, if left untreated, the disease can be
fatal.

Pierre Plourde, the authority's medical officer of health, said it
appears the patients took cocaine laced with levamisole, a drug used
by veterinarians to rid animals of internal parasites.

There were 42 reported cases associated with levamisole-laced cocaine
in Alberta and B.C. in 2008 and 2009.

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 it
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," he said of dealers.

"When you purchase an illicit substance, you never know what you are
going to get -- drug dealing is one of those businesses where they are
trying to make as much money as possible."