OTTAWA TARGETS DRUG USED TO DILUTE COCAINE

CANADA'S health regulator is taking steps to more closely control the
sale and distribution of a drug commonly used by Winnipeg drug gangs
to dilutes or cut cocaine.

Spokeswoman Jirina Vlk said Health Canada is looking at changes to
make drugs like procaine, called active pharmaceutical ingredients
(APIs), more traceable.

If the proposals are adopted, it means companies that distribute APIs
would have to be accountable by keeping proper documents, including
purchase, transportation and distribution orders.

Health Canada first raised the possible changes in late 2002. The
seemingly widespread availability of procaine was raised by police
after the arrest of a Bandidos gang associate and seizure of 13.5
kilos of procaine along with 25 ounces of crack cocaine, $45,000
cash, two 50,000-volt stun guns and a Glock 40-calibre semi-automatic handgun.

Health Canada says tested Winnipeg cocaine seized by police contains
one of the highest rates of procaine in Canada. This cocaine is known
on the street as "biker cut."

Procaine, more commonly known as a Novocain, is a legally available
dental anesthetic.

It's bought by drug dealers to mix into or dilute pure cocaine.
Cocaine is regularly "cut" with cornstarch, sugar, talcum powder or
other drugs to increase the volume and profit margin.

City police have said they started seeing larger amounts of procaine
on the street about a year ago as an Asian gang started -- on the
face of it, at least -- selling bigger amounts of cocaine. That
cocaine had been diluted with procaine and because there was so much
of it, the price per ounce of cocaine dropped from about $1,100 to
about $800 on the street.

"Certain people know how to get procaine," organized crime Staff Sgt.
David Black said, adding it's also available on the Internet.

Black said some dealers went so far as to mix a kilo of pure cocaine
and a kilo of procaine and then press the mixture into kilo amounts
and repackage it. This is done to make it look like the cocaine is
still in its original "brick" form.

Police said the use of procaine to water down cocaine highlights the
dangers to users of the drug -- they don't know what they're buying
or ingesting.

The most recent case of this kind happened earlier this month in
Ajax, Ont. Police there believe two men died after using cocaine
"cut" with the household cleaner Comet.

Cutting the coke

* Among samples of cocaine submitted to Health Canada's Drug Analysis
Service Lab in Winnipeg, at least 60 per cent of samples from
Manitoba (mostly Winnipeg) are "cut" with another analgesic compound.

* Benzocaine is the most common cutting agent, accounting for 50 per
cent of the mixtures. Lidocaine and Procaine each account for 20 per cent.

* Ten per cent of seized cocaine may be combinations of two or more diluents.

* Nationally, approximately two to three per cent of cocaine samples
contain procaine.

* However, it seems that in the last six years, between 10 and 38 per
cent of cocaine samples submitted by Winnipeg police contain this
substance as a cutting agent.