From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
A cutting agent is a
chemical used to "cut"
(adulterate) illicit drugs with
something less expensive than the
drug itself. The clasical model of
drug cutting (cf Preble & Casey,
1969) refers to the way that
illict drugs were diluted at each
stage of the chain of
distribution. The rationale for
such cutting is greed. A dealer
can quickly turn one kilogram of a
given drug into two kilograms by
mixing one kilogram of
adulterant/cutting agent with
the original kilogram of
adulterant. This would give the
dealer two kilograms (of
half-strength drug) to sell
instead of one, so when the dealer
sells his stock, he makes twice
the profit he would have made
otherwise. Similarly, a dealer who
is also an addict could take half
of the kilogram for his or her own
habit and then mix that amount of
a cutting agent into what is left.
This would essentially leave the
dealer with a half-kilo of uncut
drug for himself and a complete
kilo with half as much drug as for
him to sell. This calssical
scenario is however is no longer
very common.
Drug markets have changed
considerably since the 1980s and
greater competition and shift in
drug markets from highly
structured (and thus controlled)
to greatly fragmented has meant
that dealers now compete in terms
of purity. Many drugs that reach
the street are now only cut at the
manufacture/producer stage and
these are often with 'cuts'
designed to appeal to the consumer
as opposed to simple diluents.
Although cutting is much rarer
than it used to be street drugs
are still commonly cut with
substances such as
mannitol,
inositol, and
lactose. Sometimes a drug is
cut with another, less expensive
drug. An example would be cutting
cocaine with
methamphetamine in an
geographical area where
methamphetamine is less expensive.
This is however very rare and is
more 'folk belief' than anything
else as forensic analysis rarely
turns up such cutting. There have
also been occasional reports of
marijuana being adulterated with
PCP (phencyclidine),
and sold as "super-weed" but again
there is more myth in the area of
cutting than there is reliable
information based on scientific
forensic analysis.
Most "hard" street drugs are
adulterated to some degree or
another. The cutting agent used
depends upon the properties of the
drug to be "cut". Other drugs,
such as marijuana, LSD, peyote,
and hallucinogenic mushrooms are
rarely (if at all) adulterated.
Some street drugs can be as low
as 10-15% of the active drug, with
the other (85-90%) not necessarily
being the "cut". In fact a heroin
sample of only 20% puirty may have
no cutting agents in it at all.
The other 80% may be impurities
produced in the manufacture
process and the substances by
products of this process and/or
degredation of the drug if
improperly stored. The idea that
drug users who are accustomed to
using adulterated drugs have died
(via overdose) after injecting a
less adulterated "batch" of the
same drug, and thereby using much
more of the drug than expected is
another drug myth. Most overdoses
of this nature actually reflect
binge use and/or (usually the
case) co-drug use especially with
alcohol. Another common overdose
cause relates to newly released
from prison drug users that have
lost their tolerance and overdose
when resuming. Reports of deaths
from high purity heroin often
occur with one individual in a
group where none of the others
die. This suggests that factors
mentioned above (co-drug
use/reduced tolerance etc) are
primary factors.
When choosing a cutting agent,
the illegal drug manufacturer or
dealer attempts to find a chemical
that is inexpensive, easy to
obtain, relatively non-toxic, and
mimics the physical attributes of
the drug to be adulterated. For
example, if a drug is
soluble in water, the
preferred adulterant would also be
water-soluble. Similar melting and
boiling points are also important
if the drug is to be smoked.
Finally, the adulterant cannot be
too toxic, because dead customers
are not repeat customers.
The common belief that street
drugs are often cut with ground
glass, scouring powders and all
sorts of other poisonous
substances is largely mythical.
For further information see:
Coomber, R. (1997a) Vim in the
Veins - Fantasy or Fact: The
Adulteration of Illicit Drugs,
Addiction Research, Vol 5, No. 3.
pp. 195-212
Coomber, R. (1997b) The
Adulteration of Drugs: What
Dealers Do, What Dealers Think,
Addiction Research, Vol 5, No. 4.
pp. 297-306
Coomber, R. (1997c)
‘Adulteration of Drugs: The
Discovery of a Myth', Contemporary
Drug Problems, Vol 24, No. 2. pp.
239-271
Preble, E. and Casey, J.J.
(1969) `Taking Care of Business -
The Heroin User's Life on the
Street', in, International Journal
of the Addictions, 4, pp. 1-24.
