Cocaine is being mixed with a veterinary worming medication which is unfit for human consumption, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.
Drug expert Godwin Sammut said that drug traffickers who normally “cut” cocaine with Lidocaine – a medication used by dentists to numb gums – had started employing another chemical normally used to treat parasitic worm infections in pigs, cows and other large livestock.
“Recently there has been a change in the cutting agents [substances used to add bulk] added to cocaine which was seized locally. Where usually the laboratory detected Lidocaine mixed in with cocaine, recently I have been detecting Levamisole,” he said.
Mr Sammut, who tests drugs seized by the police for court cases, told The Sunday Times of Malta that Levamisole was once used to treat people with worm infections but was withdrawn from the market some 15 years ago following the discovery of adverse side effects impacting people’s immune systems.
The chemical, however, had now made its way back into people’s systems through the black market.
Police sources also confirmed the chemical had been discovered in a recent haul of 10kg of cocaine, along with a few other smaller batches picked up from people on the street.
It is worrying this is being found locally
Levamisole, they said, was used by traffickers to add bulk and weight to powdered cocaine.
It was preferred by traffickers to other adulterants which produced smaller “rocks” and were noticeable by experienced users who took this to mean the narcotic was of inferior quality.
The sources added that the chemical also passed basic purity tests used to detect impurities in cocaine on the street.
Retired medical consultant Jeffrey Camilleri said Levamisole supressed the production of white blood cells, resulting in a condition known as neutropenia – a deficiency of the immune system which leaves patients more susceptible to bacterial infections.
Without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening.
“It is worrying that this is being found in narcotics locally. Especially if this is taken regularly and in large quantities,” he said.
US publication The Stranger had published a series of reports on the increased use of Levamisole as an adulterant in US cocaine back in 2010 – blowing the cover on its presence in as much as two-thirds of US cocaine by 2006.
Levamisole-tainted cocaine has also been linked to a number of high-profile drug related deaths internationally. It was never established as the main contributor, but rather as one of several substances detected in fatal drug overdoses.
Toxicology reports showed Levamisole, along with cocaine, was present in former Crazy Town frontman DJ AM’s body at the time of his death in 2009.
Andrew Koppel, son of US veteran news anchor Ted Koppel, was also found with Levamisole in his body after his death was ruled a drug overdose the following year.