According to police, the price of a dose of cocaine that would give a user a 20 minute high will buy enough meth to keep a user buzzed for a day or two. Cocaine hydrochloride, the form in which cocaine is snorted or injected is often "cut," or mixed, with things that look like it. The final product can be from 1% to 95% pure. Common additives are sugars, such as mannitol, lactose, or glucose, or even sugar substitutes, and local anesthetics such as tetracaine, procaine, and lidocaine. Quinine, talc, and cornstarch have also been used. Some consumers may unknowingly purchase a supply without any cocaine, but just a cocaine substitute such as caffeine, amphetamine, PCP, procaine, and lidocaine. In the U.S.A the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of heroin and other opiates. The law did allow heroin to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes. In particular, recreational users could often still be legally supplied with heroin and use it. In 1924, the United States Congress passed additional legislation banning the sale, importation or manufacture of heroin in the United States. It is now a Schedule I substance, and is thus illegal in the United States. In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroin may have additives that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. |
