Eastbourne Police have warned of a super-strength batch of heroin and cocaine currently making the rounds, with some seized samples of coke found to be 100 percent pure.
The Eastbourne Herald reports that local Detective Inspector Neil Ralph has said, “Since April there have been a number of drug overdoses in the town, and two drug-related deaths […] Taking drugs in any form is dangerous, particularly when the user does not know the purity of the drug.”
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Coke is normally cut with bulking agents – inert substances like glucose, or stuff that’ll numb your face, like benzocaine or phenacetin – to the point that it’s only around 25 percent to 40 percent pure. There’s no evidence as yet that the cocaine found in Eastbourne has made its way around the rest of the country. However, according to the Global Drug Survey, more high purity cocaine is making its way to the UK via dark web dealers – and the higher the purity, the more of an effect it’s going to have on users.
You might think this is a good thing, but recall those anxiety-ridden half-hours of heart palpitations after a line that was plainly too big to do in one go. Now imagine how rough you’d feel if the shitty pub gak you were snorting was twice or three times the strength.
Moral of the story: don’t be an idiot. If you’re going to do drugs, you should know how to do them as safely as you can. Which, for cocaine, means buying from a trusted source; starting with a small amount; making sure the powder is chopped up as fine as it will go; letting the effects of the first line wear off before doing another; avoiding mixing it with other drugs, especially alcohol; and cleaning your nose out properly at the end of the night.
More on VICE:
London, This Is What’s Actually in Your Cocaine
Some Questions About ‘The Sun’s’ Big List of Cocaine Dealers
