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Mar 5, 2013 at 4:01 pm
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But what if there were another player in the supply chain—somewhere between manufacturing and smuggling. If that were the case, it would incentivize the use of levamisole in production, with makers trying maximize the pounds of cocaine they get on the truck.
Or another variation on the same idea, could the cartels be as sophisticated as any major corporation (or cocktail bar)—where the runners are billed for what they left with? It would be a good way for the manufacturers to maximize cash in hand vs. losing all that potential revenue down the supply chain.
I really would have no idea, but I'm all hopped up on green tea and this kinda makes sense to me.
Remind me again why people who think vaccines could possibly cause autism are stupid?
Your Kid Probably Doesn't Need Antibiotics
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archiv…
Also, there's no credible scientific evidence that vaccines cause autism; there are mountains of scientific evidence that careless use of antibiotics leads to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains.
If you want to read the 1,000th article on exactly how that is the case, and always has been, have at it.
http://gizmodo.com/5885757/vaccines-dont…
The only segue I can possible see between this and article you posted is the noting of the over-protective parent having far-reaching consequences on our society. What that has to do with Brendan's article is anyone's guess, 'cept maybe the link between certain drug abuse and paranoia.
By and large, @2, vaccines either work or they don't in an individual recipient, starting with a relatively small number of infectious particles (such as when you inhale some particles of another person's sneeze). The presence of antibiotics, on the other hand, provides strong selective pressure on an already-large number of infectious particles, either those causing a diagnosed bacterial illness or "bystanders" in an illness caused by something else; with those large numbers of bacteria, the chances are higher that some will have a mutant genetic sequence that will allow them to reproduce even in the presence of the antibiotic. That's also why people are told to take their full prescribed course of antibiotics—if you stop as soon as you feel better, the small number of resistant bacteria can expand to overwhelm you (and spread to others) before your body can eliminate them by other means.
@1 - "Cut for profit after shipment" ... well that would depend on who is receiving the shipment, and what they think it is. If the original shipper can ship 3/4 cocaine and 1/4 levamisole, and the receiving party in the US thinks it's 100% cocaine, then the shipper makes better profits. I'm not an expert, but I kinda doubt the cartels are in such close control of the receiving parties such that cutting with levamisole after shipping makes much sense or profits for the shippers. So they make the profits cutting early in the game. Other people cut later and make their own profits from that.
@2 - You know, the thing with giving kids antibiotics at all is that they destroy healthy gut flora as well, which may put the kids on a lifetime track of negative health conditions.
Cocaine is cut at the source to prevent water absorption caused by the drug being extremely hygroscopic..meaning, it absorbs A LOT of water, especially in hot and humid Columbia and countries of the like. There is an actual need to cut the product at the source; it is pressed into a flat paste after production, to prevent clumping from the humidity, then a cut is added to decrease the surface-area-to-volume ratio of cocaine exposed to air. It is then sealed and shipped in submarines, which are also hot and humid.
Why levamisole is/may be used as the cutting agent is also simply explained. It is a cheap antibiotic used for livestock, and it is affordable and readily accessible in third world, agriculturally-centered countries, such as Columbia.
As far as the validity of levamisole being used as a cutting agent in cocaine goes, I am not nearly as certain as I am towards it's application. The only hard evidence I have seen are from unpublished DEA reports, and a few medical journal publications, which then brings me to two more possible explanations for all of this:
1.) Most, if not all of the numbers compiled showing the percentages of levamisole in cocaine are from these same unpublished DEA reports on seized cocaine. It is very well known that the South American cocaine market uses many diversions to throw authorities off of their trail, including tipping off the authorities to their own diversion-smugglers/shipments themselves. Basically, in this scenario, two subs leave S.A. with cocaine headed to the US. The cartels know the likelihood of one being spotted and seized. They load one up with the levamisole product and the other with the regular product, they both leave, and the cartel then tips off the DEA, Coast Guard, etc about it's whereabouts and intentions. It's basically a form of controlled loss prevention, as they know how often and how much they get stopped, seized, and lose in the process of smuggling internationally.
2.) A very elaborate hoax created and executed by the DEA and the like to put fear into users of cocaine, since they have lost their 'War on Drugs'. It's not even a stretch to consider this one either. All the numbers and reports come from them, and they could easily create and publish false medical journal pieces.