...in general. But, it's a particularly bad idea to use coke in Washington State right now. Levamisole-tainted cocaine is still around.

Levamisole is a veterinary antiworm drug that also happens to cause some (but not everyone) exposed to it to lose a key part of their immune system—the neutrophils. Neutrophils are responsible for gobbling up fungi and bacteria that happen to find their way into you. For some unlucky people exposed to levamisole, they lose all of these cells, becoming neutropenic and exposed to all sorts of horrible bacterial and fungal infections. (This is a different sort of immune deficiency than found in AIDS from HIV, nastier in some ways.)

While quite a few people respond to emergency medical care, and regain these crucial immune cells, not everyone does. Because not everyone exposed to levamisole gets this reaction, seeing others use cocaine without getting sick is no way of being sure you'll be safe.

This is the time to quit the coke.

(Why is Levamisole in the cocaine, anyways? For similar reasons why melamine found its way into wheat gluten from China. Levamisole, beyond being toxic to the immune system, acts a little like cocaine in the brain—fuddling with dopamine receptors.)

This post was originally published yesterday, but we've moved it up.—Eds.