Cocaine Consumes Human Flesh

The veterinary drug levamisole, which is used for de-worming of cattle and sheep, just may be being used to cut cocaine with, which may make it the villain of flesh eating disease in New York and Los Angeles.

This drug does have the ability to rot the skin off nose, ears and cheeks. Greater than 80% of the countries cocaine supply contains this drug.

Dr. Noah Craft, dermatologist with Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute commented that it is most likely a big problem but as far as how big, the answer is yet to come.

In the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, a case study indicates that six cocaine users had just lately been afflicted with dark purple patches of dying flesh. Even though they are from the east coastline, this problem is nationwide.

Dr. Craft warns of the importance for people to know this is not just limited to New York and Los Angeles; it is throughout the entire cocaine supply in the nation.

Dr. Craft is just one among several physicians nationwide who have associated rotting skin to tainted cocaine. These horrible appearing wounds surface days after a hit due to the immune reaction that assaults the blood vessels which supply the skin. When the skin does not receive blood it starves and suffocates.

According to an April 2011 report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 82% of the cocaine which had been seized contains the drug levamisole. The traditional fillers for cocaine are things such as common baking soda. As to why dealers are now cutting their product with this new drug is still not yet certain. One theory could be due to studies in rats that indicate the drug acts on the brain receptors just like cocaine. It is possible that is why dealers are adding it to their product to enhance it or extend the cocaine effects on the expensive side of cost.

Regardless of this nationwide contamination of cocaine supplies not all users of cocaine will endure this experience of flesh rotting disease.

Dr. Lindy Fox, dermatologist, University of California, San Francisco, and the first physician who had first associated these horrible lesions on cocaine users to levamisole, stated that some patients can have more of an extreme reaction than others. She had cited an example of a photograph she had seen. A man's entire body including face was blackened with dying flesh. Dr. Fox remarks that they just do not know who this will and will not happen too.

Once the drug has cleared the body's system, the wounds heal and leave behind a shiny scar. This drug also does not believe in discrimination. It does not matter what race you are or socioeconomic standing you have, you are at risk.

Dr. Craft remarks, "Rich or poor, black or white," anyone who uses cocaine is at risk.

Besides rotting off the human flesh it produces another major issue. Levamisole stops the bone marrow from producing infection fighting white blood cells.

Dr. Craft in closing ads, this is a little like having HIV, without medical attention it can become fatal. He notes that about 10% of patients will die from severe infections. They may already be a walking time bomb.

Sources:

ABC News