Talk:Levamisole

Alberta Cocaine Crisis

Somebody should add some information about the current crisis in Alberta with cocaine tainted with levamisole. 24.65.95.239 (talk) 20:28, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

-- Just found another article about Levamisole being a soft kill weapon added to the cocaine by eugenicists to cull the human herd. www.infowars.com/operation-softkill-street-drugs-used-for-population-control/ ^{infowars.com is fringe, does not meet our sourcing guidelines and should not be used} How did this potentially deadly combination magically become the cut of choice for two-thirds of America's cocaine?

Cocaine Laced With Cow-Worming Drug Sickens Americans (Update1) By Ellen Gibson Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Two-thirds of cocaine smuggled into the U.S. is laced with a cattle-worming drug linked to a rare immune disorder in a rash of cases, a report says. The veterinary drug, levamisole, was connected to new cases of the immune disorder agranulocytosis in Canada a year ago. Public health officials in New Mexico and Washington now blame tainted cocaine for a cluster of 21 cases of the illness, including one death, according to the weekly morbidity and mortality report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aN454DsoGaj4

Levamisole just so happens to have very nasty side effects to alcohol. http://www.answers.com/topic/levamisole which is important because cocaine users won't think twice of mixing cocaine and alcohol. If alcohol presents itself the cocaine user has a high probability of drinking.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Oneil (talk • contribs) 05:12, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

You could do it. Here are two good sources: [1] [2] --64.180.31.86 (talk) 06:18, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

The customary dose for Levamisole when used in combination with 5-fluorouracil was 50mg 3x daily [PDR, 1996]. Not unlike other pharmaceuticals, it has adverse side effects that are more pronounced in proportion to overdose. It is interesting to note that current MSDS data sheets from MP Biomedicals are replete with dire warnings even though it was once administered to treat helminths, rheumatism, and tested on varieties of cancer. Getting back to its use as cutter stock for cocaine, the volume of drug that would be consumed to equal the daily dose of Levamisole is 300mg - assuming 50% Levamisole by weight. If it was severely cut, more than 50%, the dose would be pushed upward achieve the same effect from cocaine. It's hard to imagine why Levamisole would be used as cutter stock when there are other inert products available. The negative publicity handed out for Levamisole raises at least a couple of questions: 1.) Was Levamisole unexpectedly effective in the treatment of certain types of cancer and hence a threat to more profitable drugs? 2.) If doses significantly above 150mg of Levamisole are potentially toxic, wouldn't it be idiotic for a street-drug manufacturer/dealer to eradicate his customers? Neither of these questions rule out the possibility of rogue programs and pogroms being instigated by federal agencies - either side of the border. There remain many medications on the market despite even more injurious side effects, so the focus on Levamisole seems arbitrarily disproportionate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by VauschnVachs (talk • contribs) 04:52, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Just be careful with the edits, i'm not sure if it was determined which enantiomer -levamisole or dextramisole - the cocaine was laced with. (and apparently, the two substances can have different effects). 198.103.172.9 (talk) 19:38, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

I am surprised that I found this page when I search for "Decaris". Decaris is a French painter and engraver (can be found on French Wikipedia). Nothing to do with levamisol ! Yet, I do not know how to correct this bug, the more as I did not found any reference to Decaris in the page.

Jmarc.boussard (talk) 16:35, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

melting point

This page previously reported the melting point of this substance to be sixty-one degrees celsius. It is not. Multiple sources report it to melt over a range of 226 to 233. I changed the entry in the drugbox template from 61 to 230 (If I list the full range, the template's algorithm converts it to negative 150 farenheit). The 170 degree error is not innocuous here, given this substance's application as a cocaine adulterant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trueno Peinado (talk • contribs) 23:56, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

According to DanceSafe, it is likely that Levamisole is used to cut cocaine instead of other substances because it stays mixed with the cocaine after an acid->base->acid purification cycle, unlike many other cuts, and thus gives the moderately industrious cocaine user the impression of a higher-quality product. Not sure how I should cite something out to a twitter account, though.208.54.15.83 (talk) 21:51, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

That sounds like a believable explanation!

One toxicological report found a cocaine user dead with levamisole, but also metoprolol, sertraline, and norsertraline in the blood. While the other alkaloids in one case can come from anywhere, it's worth noting that each of these has a secondary amine and looks pretty hydrophobic. I wonder if some cocaine cook is tossing in any colorless/tasteless alkaloid he can buy or steal. Interestingly this was another fatality (like [3]) in someone using alprazolam with levamisole...

I was also curious whether levamisole has any effect on field testing of drugs, which I was wondering might be a factor (though obviously it can't be causing police too much trouble, if it's in more than half of the cocaine). The scheme they typically use is here, but I've pretty much abandoned the speculation.

One forum I found looks worth watching in the hope a usable source will turn up, but I wouldn't bet money on it: [4]

The DEA has a chart of the rate of levamisole in seizures (and much other useful analysis) at [5]. Note that one sample was found with 6% levamisole, but an additional 3% of a breakdown product produced by distilling levamisole to dryness while making crack. All the levamisole is of pharmaceutical grade, oddly enough.

While much has been made of the "expense" of this adulterant, I spotted one site saying it is available for export at $17.55 per kilogram.[6] We have to take a global view of the subject and remember that pharmaceuticals are cheap outside the U.S. Wnt (talk) 17:48, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

The melting point has been changed again - please read my comments in the text. It's important, when citing melting points, to know if you're writing about the free base, or one of its stereoisomers (where applicable), or a particular salt. It's also useful to try to copy the data from a primary source, since secondary sources aren't always explicit on this issue. That said, a melting point isn't as important a criterion of purity as it once (up to about the third quarter of the 20thC) was. Chemists see significant discrepancies between different papers in the literature all the time. M.p.s still have their uses, but purity is better judged these days by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods.

[By the way (and absolutely no offence is intended), the word "alkaloid" should only be applied to naturally-occurring bases, not synthetic compounds. It's a bit like calling a tennis racquet a "bat"...] Xprofj (talk) 23:37, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Enantiomers are mirror images... by definition stereochemically pure samples of both the R and S enantiomers will have the same mp (assuming identical crystallization conditions, etc.) L2OrganicChemistry 71.202.140.109 (talk) 02:49, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Levamisol or Levamisole?

Most other languages call this substance Levamisol. Google image search shows that Levamisol is what is printed on most packages. The first version of the article calls it Levamisole hydrochloride. Which one is correct? -- Petri Krohn (talk) 17:32, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Your question is a bit confused. In English, the drug is called "levamisole". English has this "silent e" thing; other languages don't, and so yes it is called "levamisol" in other languages. Many compounds can be made and stored and used in salt form or not, depending on what is needed. The chemical formula for levamisole is C11H12N2S. Levamisole HCL is a salt form of levamisole -- it is levamisole in solution with HCL. Its formula is C11H12N2S, HCL. Same API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), different form. Jytdog (talk) 18:38, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

anonymous postcard on "the stranger 'slog'" blog a reliable source?

This article currently states: "In response to the dangers, The Stranger, People's Harm-Reduction Alliance and DanceSafe began producing tests to identify levamisole's presence in cocaine. The kits include a survey postcard, and one revealed its presence in a 1/4-kg block of cocaine, indicating both users and dealers were using the kits."

I checked the source, and while it does make the claim, it offers no proof that quantity of cocaine was actually tested:

"Levamisole* is still in the world's cocaine supply and our levamisole test kits—which The Stranger, along with the People's Harm-Reduction Alliance and DanceSafe, first launched into the world in 2010—are still around, too.

The anonymous, pre-stamped survey postcards that come with the kits still trickle in from time to time. Today, one arrived that was a little different. It wasn't from an individual user testing a little baggy—this person tested a larger quantity of cocaine. (A quarter kilo? Four kilos? Fourteen kilos?) It had all been cut with levamisole.

levamkilo080_black.jpg THE STRANGER

In a way, this is exactly what I'd hoped would happen—that levamisole and awareness of its potentially dangerous effects would first start to worry customers, who would then mention that to their dealers, who would pass the concern up the chain. Two years ago, almost nobody had heard of levamisole. Now, at least one person with quantity took the time to get a kit and test his/her product—and make a frowny-face emoticon because it tested positive."

Maybe whoever sent in the postcard lied and wrote some BS and 'the stranger' jumped at the chance to toot their own horn on their blog? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.79.92.24 (talk) 05:08, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

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