The levamisole test kits should be made available to the smugglers. If the smugglers knew they were shipping (detectably) impure cocaine, there would be pressure on the producers to stop cutting the product.

(... and a little voice in my head tells me that we'd be better off if drugs were regulated rather than illegal.)

> As Dr. Clark put it: "The idea of letting addicts die to make drugs scarier is reprehensible."

Yes.

Part two was just posted a few days ago:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=5393442&m...

I'd encourage everyone to read this. About 1 in 3 Americans die from drug use or drug-related causes, so there is a real need for more people to become the 'drug geek' among their circle of friends.

I like this article.

I like how they talk about drug smuggling technology in terms of natural selection against an inhospitable environment. It reminds me of hacking.

Less people die from hacking.

Here is a related report from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5849a3.htm

First, I think it is too easy to write off the Columbians not cutting the cocaine themselves. It used to be that the drugs were imported in as pure a form as possible, to reduce the weight and volume that needs to be smuggled. But what has changed today is that the Columbians no longer control the entire supply chain. Mexicans pick up the coke from Columbia and transport it themselves across the border.

In the 70s through to the 90s, Escobar, Ochoa and Lehder controlled everything from production to distribution in the USA (usually with Americans they hired - such as George Jung and the guys featured in Cocaine Cowboys). Today the Mexican cartels control all the smuggling and distribution in the USA - so it actually makes sense that the Columbians are cutting their product in order to increase profits.

I read up on Levamisole to get more information about it (its melting point is 30% higher than coke - molecular mass of a third more) . I was looking into this speculating that the reason it is used as a cutting agent could be because it isn't picked up in purity tests that the cartels use. For some reason the CDC and DEA are finding it (perhaps because they explicitly test for it) while the Mexican cartels are not. It is also suitable to use as a cutting agent since it is metabolized into a compound that has similar effects to amphetamines (which have also been used to cut coke with previously). The article suggests this, as there is currently no easy test kit for Levamisole.

Second part I would speculate on is that Levamisole is somehow finding its way into the production process unintentionally. It could be that livestock in Columbia is treated with the drug (de-worming etc.) and that the labs are contaminated because of the fertilizer used, or because of some other part of the process.

Nowhere online does it mention the quantities of Levamisole found in the cocaine, which makes it difficult to speculate on the source. If it was one part per thousand, you could narrow it down to contamination or impurities passing through, if it was 1 part in 5, you could argue that it is a cutting agent.

> Right-wing paramilitary death squads—which are on U.S. lists of international terrorist organizations.

Wait, did I read that right? From what I now most right-wing paramilitary death squads are on CIA's payroll.

You can read more comments here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1628216 , from when this story was last posted.

It's still a great read.

Thanks for linking to the print version - it is much more pleasant to read :)

Note however, that in the print version, the graph[1] that shows Percentage of cocaine samples found to be cut with cattle-deworming drug levamisole vs. Total number of cocaine samples seized by the DEA for 2005-2009 is not included.

[1]: http://www.thestranger.com/binary/98a1/Feature1-570.jpg

Edit: What I find odd, is that while they (thestranger.com) have opted to remove the main image for the article, they include all comments - which, with 97 comments so far, means that those who print the article are going to end up with 4 pages containing the article and 13 pages of comments.

just a smuggling idea: why don't they build an unmanned sub to shuttle the drugs around the border? it could go much deeper (no air needed), move real slowly, stay submerged for a very long time at one place, navigate completely automatically using GPS (except someone needs to pick up the cargo on the other end) and if caught it's hard to catch the smugglers.

To solve this mystery you would need to know who traffics the cocaine. Your search might lead you here - http://www.google.com/search?q=cia+drug+trafficking

Is there the remotest possibility that there is some problem on the cocoa plantations, and the South American suppliers are cutting the supply to hide the low production levels.

As a work of fiction: Kyle Mills's Rising Phoenix deals with a group tainting drugs to create a panic.

Would terrorist groups ever choose to contaminate street drugs? Has this happened in the past?

If you do enough research on drug trafficking, you'll find that the ruling elite pretty much have that market locked up. It can be shown without a doubt that the CIA, the Mossad and British intelligence run about 70% of the world's drug supply.

It's a 500 billion dollar a year business. More than oil. Think about it.

maybe its not cut with it, but a by-product of the manufacturing.

They have "drug experts". How do these people learns about the drug trade?