US Heroin users exposed to dangerous additive -CDC (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(Poisoning Heroin Addicts! What has happened to my America?)

US heroin users exposed to dangerous additive -CDC

Thu Aug 18, 2005 02:43 PM ET

By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A drug that promotes lean muscle growth in cattle may be turning up in heroin on the U.S. East Coast, sickening users and stoking fears of a wave of such poisonings, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. Traces of clenbuterol were found in the urine of eight reported heroin users who became ill in New York and Connecticut in the first three months of 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a weekly health report.

Clenbuterol, which is legal in some countries but not in the United States, has also been linked to 18 other cases that surfaced in New York and four states along the Atlantic coast around the same time, according to the report. Many of those sickened developed dangerously rapid heart rates and palpitations, chest pain and hypotension. The majority said they had snorted rather than injected what they thought was heroin before becoming sick.

"The 26 cases described in this report likely represent a fraction of actual cases of clenbuterol poisoning," the CDC said in its report, the first published investigation into the problem. The Atlanta-based federal agency, however, said it was possible that those sickened earlier this year had taken pure clenbuterol that was sold to them as heroin.

It urged health care providers, especially those working in emergency departments, and others dealing with heroin users to be aware of the typical symptoms associated with ingestion of clenbuterol. The warning came one week after six people died of apparent heroin overdoses in lower Manhattan.

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=9414933&src=rss/domesticNews>
(more at the link above)

[Wickerman]

1. Damn, Heroin dangerous?

Next thing ya know they'll say that methamphetamine is addicting. :crazy:

Seriously, that is scary stuff. What a lousy chemical.

[Up2Late]

4. I find it amazing that anyone could become addicted to methamphetamine

The stuff make you feel like shit, oh I mean, that's what I've heard.

Unless they are talking smoking it, I never tried that. AND, when you smoke it, it destroys you teeth.

[merwin]

2. They find it in 8 people and it's suddenly in ALL heroin?

Seems to me that if 'US heroin users exposed to dangerous additive' was taken seriously, that means that the additive is in ALL or MOST of the heroin in the US.

If that was the case, they would be finding it in MANY more people than that.

[HadItUpToHere]

3. Most heroin dealers don't want to sell poisoned smack-

it's generally not good for business to kill off your clientele.

[Psephos]

13. No offense, but heroin dealers could care less about their clients' health

There is one thing, and only one thing, they care about. Take a guess what that is.

Take a read of a good book like The Corner for a glimpse into the world of hard drug use and dealing.

Peace.

[HadItUpToHere]

16. disagree-

dealers don't make money from dead customers- plus it's bad advertising.

[noonwitch]

19. That's an excellent book

The HBO miniseries was good, too.
I've been working as a social worker in Detroit for over 18 years now, and "The Corner" was pretty accurate to what I've observed.

[Up2Late]

6. I guess the CIA doesn't want their customers thinking that they are...

...importing bad Heroin from Afghanistan.

[Hotler]

7. Isn't that the truth! n/t

[Occulus]

14. Well, think about it.

Heroin is a bad drug. Therefore, it's in all heroin.

Of course, if cyanide capsules end up in one particular lot of bottles for one particular ibuprofen brand, then for some mysterious reason "There are no reports of tampering involving Advil or other, store brands."

Odd, that. :freak:

[ovidsen]

5. Weird

I'm pretty sure I've seen stories about clebuterol being used to cut heroin before, so I did a little googling...

surprise, surprise!! Turns out clebuterol is popular with the bigger-biceps-thru chemistry (steroids) crowd! You too can be a junkie with killer (and I do mean KILLER) abs. It must affect the high somehow.

And this off topic message for up2late... yeah, I never understood the attraction of meth either (and I will admit to trying it), but clearly there are some unlucky people who find the stuff irresistable. Oh, and you're teeth may rot no matter how you ingest meth (smoking, snorting, shooting, whatever). The tooth decay results 'cause meth cuts your saliva output and changes its chemistry, turning your mouth into dental decay bacteria heaven. Now kiss me, silly!

[Tace]

8. Everybody I Knew In The 70's Who Did Meth Is Long Gone...

Way dead. I don't mean people who "tried" it. I mean those who "did" it. : (

[progressive_realist]

9. BREAKING NEWS: Nation's heroin supply contaminated

By dangerous poisons.

For example, it might contain heroin. :evilgrin:

[PittPoliSci]

22. hah!

welcome to DU! :hi:

[DrBloodmoney]

10. Legalize, regulate,and treat... it's simple people

The government could easily protect people from impure street narcotics.

[Mnemosyne]

11. It is simple DrB, that is probably why

it hasn't been done. I just was reading a thread about how the drug war focuses on pot because there are more users!!
Gateway my ass! I would bet that almost everyone that has ever tried pot, used alcohol first. I never took friends to the ER for pot poisoning.
What a world, or country! There is no common sense in most of our drug laws.

Welcome to DU! Have fun!

V:hi:

[mitchum]

12. Okay, that's it! I'm quitting tomorrow

[niallmac]

15. Great! Can we hear from you in say...five days? n/t

[phillinweird247]

17. The danger is in the cut.

Herion is very similar to morpine, infact its converted to morphine in the body.the main difference is dosage and the time it takes to cross the blood brain barrier.

[Up2Late]

20. I don't know about "... its converted to morphine in the body..." but...

...this is what I DO know, or at least this is what I was taught, in my 9th Grade Health class, about the history of morphine and Heroin:

First their was Opium addiction, which was a problem, so someone refined Opium to invent Codeine, which is 10 time stronger than Opium as a "cure" for Opium addiction.

Yes, Codeine DID cure Opium addiction, but now the former Opium addicts were addicted to Codeine.

So then, someone refined Codeine to cure Codeine addiction, and came up with something 10 time stronger: Morphine. Well guess what? They cured Codeine addiction, but now those people were addicted to Morphine.

So what did they do? They then further refined Morphine to create something 10 times stronger: Heroine. Again, this did "Cure" Morphine addiction, but now they had a bunch of Heroine addicts.

I'm not sure why they stopped there with Heroine, maybe they realize this was the wrong approach or they couldn't refine it any further, but that the basic history and relationship between that family of drugs.
:smoke:

[OKthatsIT]

18. Could be Bush&daBoyz muscling in on traditional mafia territories

creating distrust of old mainstay dealers.

"These are desparate times," says Bush.

[PittPoliSci]

21. no! not the poor herion users!