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LE/EMS CAUTIONARY Warning

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Len-2A Training

Len-2A Training

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The following info was provided by a Nurse who works in a Detox Center, so it did not come thru LE channels. I am forwarding it to you to disseminate so that no LEOs or EMS workers suffer any injuries due to lack of this knowledge.

If you are LE or EMS, Please make sure that your troops are all aware of this potential hazard. If you have friends who are, please pass the warning on to them.

Stay safe!

Something of interest to LEO's


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I worked at a Detox center last night, and during one of my admissions assessments I learned something new. I was asking this 19 y/o male who had been brought in by the local PD about his substance abuse history and the kid explained to me that he had been using "powder" by sprinkeling it in his "wig". What this means is that he uses cocaine by putting it in his hair and absorbing it through his scalp for a longer high. It also means that anyone who is handling him could also be absorbing it through their hands, neck, or any mucous membranes can be exposed to cocaine in sufficient quantity to become influenced and show positive on urine drug screenings.

Just for kicks, I scraped his scalp and tested the results with a NIK kit and yep yep it was positive for cocaine.
Click to expand...
 
With the quality of clientel that we deal with, if one of those idiots puts cocaine in his hair, his buddies will promptly begin sniffing his head.
ALWAYS wear gloves, This goes for every patient you meet.
 
I've never heard of this, but it sure sounds dumb.

Anyone too stupid to snort coke, and is putting it on his head is already higher than he needs to be.

I'm far from an expert, but this sounds like baloney to me. [thinking]
 
If it wasn't a 1st-hand story from a nurse (who is a frequent poster on the forum I found it on), I might be inclined to discount it too.

No argument about "dumb" . . . but I think that of anyone who uses or abuses drugs!
 
Can I assume that he also pours gasoline on the outside of his car to get better mileage. That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. As a Narcotics Officer, this tops the list...[rolleyes]
 
I'm surprised at the number of people here who seem to believe that we've identified something so stupid that even junkies wouldn't possibly do it. While I don't deal with junkies on a regular basis, the people I run into regularly make me more skeptical that there anything that stupid exists. As Cicero wrote a couple of thousand years ago, "there is nothing so absurd that some philosopher has not already said it." I figure junkies are at least as crazy.

Ken
 
I have a few friends that have done hard drugs. I asked them about this. They asked me if i was joking and told me this was the most ridiculous thing they ever hear of. They told me you can't absorb it through your skin like that. You'll just waste a lot of money.
 
Actually, do a Google search. It is possible, and the absorption would be sort of time released as the OP suggests. Absorption through the skin in the form of ointments, creams, lotions, is an accepted way of administering medications.
Think about nitroglycerin and nicotine patches these have a systemic effect.


I'm not saying that it is the optimum way for cocaine, and I would expect most people who take cocaine would never take it this way. However, it might be the preference for some losers and maybe had some people were trying it out back in 2006 when the original post occurred.
 
As previously mentioned, nitroglycerin patches, (cream),and the like are absorbed through the skin. However, certain drugs cannot be absorbed except through mucous membranes, for example, your nose, eyes, and even rectum.
Cocaine is one of these drugs.
I don't dispute what the nurse encountered, I simply think she encountered an idiot.
Also, to repeat Swatmedic, "always wear gloves". This seems simple, but we often get lazy, or forget, this is a good reason not too.
 
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Gives all new meaning to "coke head"

Some drugs can be absorbed through the skin... Cocaine... don't think is one of them. Does remind me of the Crocodile Dundee scene when he dumps all the coke in a pan of boiling water and tells the guy it is a better way to do it. Think someone was yanking this flunky's chain about the scalp being able to absorb it.
 
You know what.. for my own health and safety, as one of the first people who would be called to deal with snow white here.. I dont care weather or not its BS... drug addicts are not always rhodes scholars (although some are) and the power of addiction will bring people to do and try things that no *normal* person would try. Ive seen enough Heroin ODs and the methods used to try and bring THEM out of it to say that some druggie somewhere would try this. Thanks for the Info, and like one of the first posters put up...
BSI always. and as tim put up... JOB SECURITY, without stupid people i wouldnt be employed
 
You can actually absorb nearly anything through your skin, however, on dry skin (hands, arms, scalp) the absorption rate will be so low that you don't need to worry about it.
 
Thats absolutely false. Handling cocaine has no effect. It can only be uses via injection, snorting, ingestion, and smoking.

however that is not the case with LSD which i think is th roots of this story.
Because LSD doses are quite small, it is possible that enough material could be absorbed through the skin to produce effects. More of an issue is the absorption of LSD through mucous membranes such as the nose, mouth, or eyes. A person who gets LSD on their hands (generally only an issue with liquid LSD) and then touches their mouth or nose, or rubs their eyes, could absorb some of it.
 
You want something into your system faster than you can say "likedy split" rub your eyes. This is one of the biggest ways people transmit the cold virus - They rub their eyes after touching door knobs, shopping carts etc, etc ... You can scratch your ass all day just don't rub those eyes -[smile][rofl]
 
I have never come across this method, but I would never discount it. I've seen people doing/acting too many off the wall things now to ever expect someone to never do something.

Perhaps it is a trend for the younger generation in the area of the OP and that nurse. Those kids are like pack animals and once they get an idea in their heads you never know how many will do it and think it's having some effect on them.

However I do agree that maybe the nurse was confusing her drugs, though if you cut up your scalp a bit and then applied the drugs in your hair I would imagine it would enter your bloodstream. (Which would explain why the purp was in the ER as well!)
 
ehhhh, ask a drug dealer that cuts coke if they were gloves or not.....most do, because if not..........they get high, and since most are on probation (they will fail a drug test).

As for putting on your scalp, that doesnt sound like the most favorable way to get hi, but to each is on I guess
 
Never say never.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2087100

On the dermal absorption of cocaine.
Baselt RC, Chang JY, Yoshikawa DM.

Chemical Toxicology Institute, Foster City, California 94404.

A 5-mg dose of cocaine free base applied to the volar forearm skin surface of a volunteer resulted in a maximal urinary benzoylecgonine concentration of 55 ng/mL at 48 h, using discrete urine specimens. A total of 58 micrograms of benzoylecgonine, representing 1.2% of the dose, was excreted in the 96-h urine. An identical trial using 5 mg of cocaine hydrochloride resulted in a maximal urinary benzoylecgonine concentration of 15 ng/mL at 24 h. We conclude that dermal absorption of cocaine represents a minor, but significant route of exposure to this drug that needs to be considered when interpreting low-level urine drug testing results.
 
I wonder if roughing up the skin (road rash) would assist in absorbing through the skin.

Still seems like a waste of a fairly expensive drug.
 
interesting but....

Through the hair? Skin? Oh, that must be why all those police use rubber gloves when going through drug dealer places...yea, NO. If I had some DMSO and cocaine then I would be concerned. Maybe all those other chemicals which are carcinogenic would explain the gloves (then again, I guess "carcinogenic" is in the mind of the beholder). Just two pennies more on this most interesting of subjects...ya sure that was a nurse who told you that? Cocaine in the hair....either that or it was dandruff...[rofl]
 
Gooman24 said:
[thinking]WTF??
Click to expand...


Is coke no longer expensive? I'd figure a user would want the best hit from it is all. Seems like the equilivant would be me putting my Copenhagen inside my gloves to get a nicotine hit?

Then again, why would I assume rational thought from a hard drug user?
 
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