I was at a loose end for a couple of hours so I started to look at the contents of the cocaine samples submitted to a well known UK lab. Of focus was the issue of what cocaine is commonly bulked or cut with (not including other mainstream drugs). This was nothing to do with my book: it was purely for academic interest as an occasional user.
162 samples were submitted as cocaine from 1st September 2020 to the current date (April 2021). From these 50 (31%) of the samples were listed solely as cocaine, with no other recorded content.
I broke the rest down into two sets: those which returned a single addition, and those which returned multiple additions. The figures were as follows:
Single Addition (64 samples in total):
21 (13.0%) = Benzoylecgonine
17 (10.5%) = Levamisole
10 (6.2%) = Norcocaine
7 (4.3%) = Benzocaine
6 (3.7%) = Phenacetin
1 (0.6%) = Paracetamol
1 (0.6%) = Metformin
1 (0.6%) = LidocaineMultiple Additions (48 samples in total)
10 (6.2%) = Levamisole + Benzoylecgonine
7 (4.3%) = Levamisole + Norcocaine
5 (3.1%) = Levamisole + Benzoylecgonine + Norcocaine
4 (2.5%) = Benzoylecgonine + Norcocaine
3 (1.9%) = Benzoylecgonine + Ecgonine methyl ester
2 (1.2%) = Benzocaine + Norcocaine
2 (1.2%) = Phenacetin + Benzocaine
2 (1.2%) = Phenacetin + Norcocaine
2 (1.2%) = Benzoylecgonine + Norcocaine + Ecgonine methyl ester
1 (0.6%) = Levsole + Phenacetin
1 (0.6%) = Phenacetin + Norcocaine + Benzocaine
1 (0.6%) = Tropacocaine + Norcocaine + Benzoylecgonine + Ecgonine methyl ester
1 (0.6%) = Levamisole + Norcocaine + Benzocaine
1 (0.6%) = Levamisole + Norcocaine + Benzoylecgonine + Tropacocaine
1 (0.6%) = Benzocaine + Ecgonine methyl ester
1 (0.6%) = Phenacetin + Ecgonine methyl ester + Benzoylecgonine + Caffeine + Benzocaine
1 (0.6%) = Levamisole + Metformin + Norcocaine + Benzoylecgonine
1 (0.6%) = Levamisole + Benzoylecgonine + Norcocaine + Ecgonine methyl ester
1 (0.6%) = Benzoylecgonine + Procaine + Norcocaine + Ecgonine methyl ester
1 (0.6%) = Levamisole + Benzoylecgonine + Phenacetin + Ecgonine methyl ester
It should be noted that not all of these are bulking or cutting agents: some simply result from degradation or production issues. Referring to them as additions or additives is probably not the best terminology.
This isn’t the biggest of sample sizes but what surprised me was that some samples contained multiple additions. I can’t speculate why that would ever happen, other than perhaps different vendors adding different agents as the cocaine moved down the supply chain. It has to be said though that this does represent a very small percentage of the samples.
What didn’t surprise me though was that levamisole ranked so highly (present in 28% of all samples); although this wasn’t as high as I feared. It is widely known that this is used to treat parasitic worm infections, and that it is a very bad idea to snort large volumes. I was also surprised at the low ranking of lidocaine, as I expected it to be the primary anesthetic/agent. Perhaps I am showing my age again, which also leads me to wonder what happened to procaine.
Stay safe.
