It was just weeks ago that High Times reported that fentanyl-laced cocaine was becoming a deadly nuisance across the United States. Now, the dope henchmen of the federal government have issued a warning in the state of Florida, letting the drug culture know that coke contaminated by fentanyl has become a leech on life, even for weekend warriors.
After conducting a year’s worth of investigations into Florida’s bumpin’ cocaine scene, officials with the DEA say that doing even the occasional line in the Sunshine States could result in an accidental overdose.
So far, 180 samples from drug seizures in more than 20 counties have uncovered cocaine that has been cut using powerful synthetic opioids.
The problem with snorting this vicious drug mixture, officials say, is that not everyone is privy to the fact that they are getting a head full of polluted dust.
“People are thinking they are taking straight cocaine and in fact, they are not,” Justin Miller, intelligence chief for the DEA’s Miami Field Division, told the Sun Sentinel. “Now you are seeing it cut or mixed with synthetic opioids. That’s really what’s scary out there.”
Over the past several years, cocaine-related deaths have doubled in Florida, with the Colombian go-go powder reportedly becoming the leading cause of drug-related deaths in the state. In Miami-Dade alone, there were roughly 36 overdose deaths per month from cocaine in 2016.
To snort synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and carfentanil, is not too much different than trying to do a line of dope inside a pit of poisonous snakes. Sure, it is possible the user will come out alive, but the odds are drastically stacked against them.
Some of these synthetics are in upwards of 5,000 times stronger than a single unit of heroin. The reason this stuff carries such a wicked punch is that it was developed for large animals, like elephants and horses. It was never the intention of the scientific world for this high-powered pain powder to be consumed by anything weighing less than a thousand pounds.
Although cocaine has been cut with a wide variety of adulterants, such as caffeine, for many years, its new relationship with synthetic opioids is not yet fully understood. Some customers desire the “speedball” effect of cocaine mixed with opioids, but cutting the product in this way is not exactly the most economically sound.
A large portion of the overdose deaths stemming from opioid-laced cocaine is the result of the product being cut with too much fentanyl. But the latest DEA report indicates that this is also happening when “fentanyl is inadvertently mixed into cocaine by drug dealers using the same blending equipment to cut various types of drugs, such as heroin.”
Although the DEA warning is only for Florida, this problem is happening in other states. It’s just a matter of time before the results are as dire as they are now in the southern part of the nation.
We mentioned in our previous report, “Fentanyl-Laced Cocaine Becoming A Deadly Nuisance,” about how it wouldn’t be considered paranoid for the regular user to buy the opioid-reversal drug Narcan, just in case of an emergency.
But now with the risk of coke accidentally being dirtied with synthetic opioids, it might not be a stretch to take the paranoia up a notch and look into purchasing a box of drug testing kits. For less than $20, you can get your hands on a 10-pack of the same type of field drug tests that the police use during roadside shakedowns. Although these inexpensive “presumptive” tests do not provide solid enough evidence to prove guilt in a court of law, they could still be used as a sufficient tool to let the user know if his or her cocaine is tainted with unwanted opioids.
This advice is coming from a guy who, back in the day, used to call his neighborhood pharmacist to determine whether mixing certain street drugs would cause a dangerous interaction. And I’m still alive. Sometimes paranoia works to the benefit of the drug user, especially deep inside the wild, wild world of the unscrupulous dope dealer.
