Features
Aug 19, 2010
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Comments
It's more likely than you think.
Free drug check!
And didn't the 1987 Whoopi Goldberg anti-drug action classic Fatal Beauty already answer these questions? Some production workers fooled around too much with the Columbian cuckoo powder and cut it with everything in sight. There's a bitchin' mall shoot-out in the end.
When Joe the Crack addict (Joe the Plumber's doppelgaenger) gets Agranulocytosis and heads to the ER to get his uninsured-ass treated, YOU, THE TAXPAYER will be responsible for footing the bill. Yes, Joe is an asshole/stupid/irresponsible/etc. for being a crack addict, but he's not going to just "die off" or "get what he deserves", he's going to get sick and become an even more immense burden on society. Get him a test kit, offer him treatment while he is getting the test kit and you will, as the article said, save an immense amount of public funds.
Amazing piece of investigative journalism.
The networking, chemistry know how and effort that went into this kit's origination are not negligible. Neither are the ongoing questions of sourcing the materials. DanceSafe sells kits to test the identities of several sorts of drugs. The instructions for these testing kits *are* available online. Still, people by and large find it much more practical to enjoy DanceSafe's effort, and buy the kits from them.
Thank you DanceSafe and Dr. Clark!
and thank you to everybody else who's gotten on board for the distribution part of the conversation.
Brendan, and The Stranger: once upon a time, the "Mainstream Media" would occasionally take public leadership on a life-saving issue. Well, the mainstream media has whored itself out of that arena. Thank god for an alternative weekly with a sense of public service! Outstanding.
It's an excellent piece, Brendan. I'm glad someone is looking into it, because we can't rely on the mainstream media to care while Lindsey's in jail. Also, it's nice to see someone who appeals to pragmatism and taxes on this issue, which (sadly) is more likely to make it relevant to more people. Maybe my uncle is a crack addict, but he's still a human and he's still my uncle.
This reminds me of the scare news articles pumped out in the late 1990s in Reno and Sacramento regarding meth bumps mixed with a lil' heroin. Apparently the heroin was super clean and the little tweakers were ODing. Shit, too bad.
Even 100% pure cocaine has a ridiculously high percentage of gasoline additives and lead. That's because the producers in Columbia discovered years ago that nothing separates coke from coca leaves as well as leaded gasoline.
The article is kinda like saying: THIS JUST IN, HARD DRUGS ARE BAD FOR YA, KIDS!
Less obnoxious hipsters is just fine by me.
You're simplistically missing the point if you think this is about feeling sorry for cocaine users. Treating these upcoming problems from levamisole is going to cost EVERYONE money thru our health care system. It even says that in the article. Did you not read?
Another great article STranger, this is turning into a real news-paper, well written and researched.
And yet this was US Gov't policy during Prohibition:
http://www.slate.com/id/2245188
Commenter savageslister's tone may be a bit much but the spirit of the comments are spot on - there are deep costs here...
My sincere thanks for your informative and engaging writing, Mr Kiley.
/Steve Chapman
Yeah, especially the cartels when sales plummet after all the hipster fuckwits switch back to meth.
Remind me, which am I supposed to empathize with: drug dealers or coke addicts?
I grew up in a time (the 80s) and an area (California) that was positively swimming in cocaine. I tried it once, didn't like it. Nobody put a gun to my head and shoved a straw in my hand and said "Do this line now!"
First rule of 12 Step Programs: personal accountability.
So if a person ever makes a mistake, they should -- rather than learning from it and perhaps sharing what they learned with others -- never think or speak of it again? Or have they become such completely worthless hypocrites that their only recourse is to kill themselves?
The developed world's consumption of cocaine isn't just destroying Colombia -- it's a major factor behind the violence in Mexico, where tens of thousands of people have died as cartels struggle to control the drug trade. It affects West Africa (Guinea-Bissau in particular), most of Central America, parts of the Caribbean (Haiti's corrupt military is deeply involved in cocaine trafficking), etc. We desperately need to stop doing coke -- or (better yet) legalize it. Fat chance of either, though.
The drug trade is a perfect example of free market capitalism, except imagine if they didn't have to worry about law enforcement at all...
What sort of choices are you making? Smoking, drinking, eating too many potato chips? Driving your car too fast? Fuck your sanctimony.
Brendon, this is some of the finest journalism I've seen come out of your paper in a long time. Your support for both harm reduction and the thoroughness of your research speak volumes about both your professional integrity and the fullness of your character. Keep up the good work and if you guys need help raising money to produce these kits, let your community know. I would be happy to offer art work and/or performances to help. I worked in harm reduction services at the 1811 Eastlake project and agree that his is by far the best solution. Outstanding job.
See "jake leg".
The drug trade has most definitely exacerbated the situation - which might be the understatement of the century - but it certainly wasn't a huge part of the picture when the FARC was formed in the mid-sixties.
Finally - and I know it's hard to believe this when you see stark and appalling poverty right in front of you - Colombia is one of the richer economies in Latin America, which is in turn considered a middle income region by global smarty-pants people who measure these things. It's a damn sight more functional that some other parts of Latin America. Consider Venezuela, for example. But that's hard to care about when you see undernourished children a few houses down on your block. This, I know about.
Otra vez, gracias por tu perspectiva. Espero que vos y tu marido estén bien.
"To pass the time from the mindless work, he and his friends would count the dead bodies floating down the river next to the crops, usually bound and tied together. Lots of them kids. In a normal day he counted about 50."
so that would be about 18,000 plus bodies floating down the river per year, eh?? And that was only one little stretch of one river in Columbia, so that scene have been replicated over and over and for years, I guess.... You're completely full of crap or your husband thinks you are a complete idiot who will believe anything.
@ Bagel 74,
http://www.kval.com/news/national/810957…
Brendan- I heard about this article a while back from a friend who tried to hook us up to talk about it but we never ended up connecting; I am SO glad it wasn't because you didn't do the article. This NEEDS to be talked about.
A very large proportion of Seattle residents do cocaine. Old people, young people, rich people (especially rich people), poor people, soccer moms, homeless people, educated people, your doctor, your mailman, your neighbor, our students (your child's doctor!), your family... You've got to be kidding me with the comments here!
Who the hell are we to dictate or judge what someone else does with their body and mind?
Educate yourselves you fucking idiots! If you prevent illness and disease before it spreads, it costs YOU less money (education is accomplished through fact based teaching- not scary myths about growing hairy palms or refer madness). Everyone does things things that are dangerous... be it doing illegal drugs, living on the down low or riding your bike to work. Give people a fucking option to be as safe as they can be and you're not putting yourself out at all compared to how you will be when the worst case scenario happens.
Maybe you have children, because you never learned about safe sex or you believe that God hates birth control or that condoms are bad- OR maybe you were a young kid that was horny or had no self esteem so you had unprotected sex and got pregnant and NOW you use religion to defend your stupid actions cause you couldn't say no. WE are paying for your children- or at least we will in the future...
It's unbelievable that you live in a supposedly progressive, educated city and so many of you are this selfish and stupid. Go away. Go to Cheney or Spirit Lake or some other red neck town. Let adults make adult choices and give them the tools they need.
You don't see 80 comments here about your magic undies, your 'it doesn't count if it was in the ass' daughters, your drink and beat the wife on saturday but go to church on sunday or any other 'sin' that you judgmental assholes hold others to but excuse yourselves for.
I can NOT believe the people in this city. Equal rights for all! Freedom of choice! Fucking bullshit. Equal rights as long as you can benefit from it. Freedom of choice as long as it fits nicely in your moral high ground. Jesus Fucking Christ. You want to pay less taxes? Want to see less homeless people? Less drug addicts and crazies? Legalize drugs, reduce (or eliminate) sentencing for non-violent crimes, take care of your own fucking families and mentally ill. Drugs are NOT your problem! People do drugs. People do too many drugs who have nobody and nowhere to turn to and nobody who cares enough to tell them to stop. Only when you've done all that you can do- do you have a voice worth listening to. Go fuck yourself. (again- sorry for the looooong comment.)
http://www.berfrois.com/
http://www.berfrois.com/
That means: no domestic produce (explotation and ransoming of migrants... 72 found murdered today on one ranch), no home repairs to electric wiring (African copper mines maim or kill tens of thousands of people every year), and certainly no electronics (Chinese mining of rare earths are deadly). Really, you're forbidden from buying from China... the work conditions are beyond appalling and the exploitation of children is disgusting, happening on a scale that would make your husband spit. Recycled steel from Bangladesh is out if you think Bangladeshis deserve four limbs, so no steel products to be safe.
See how this goes? Enjoy your mountain shack and berry dinners!
Perhaps you should be reading more health conscious blogs related to food safety and healthy diet. Your comment is wholly irrelevant to the subject at hand. Enjoy your feed-lot raised, hormone injected, corn-fed and shite up to the cattle's knees, hamburger. Don't forget that delicious slice of rBGH infused cheese for good measure.
I think it's called evolution in action.
People are dying from lack of food and yet there are addicts who want society to spend time and money and energy on saving them from the bad effects of the stuff thy voluntarily choose to shoot, smoke or snort.
Sorry, my energies are used to help people who got into trouble through no fault of their own.
To re-use an old old phrase "Why do you think they call it dope"?
Poster: "Not taking care of these addicts will cost us money."
Idiot: "Um, it's evolution and I don't feel sorry for them."
Poster: "No seriously, everyone wants lower taxes, right? Let's not let these people get sick and then have to pay for their medical care."
Idiot: "Yeah the cartels will lose money if we don't help these addicts."
Poster: "Non sequitur?"
Idiot: "You are a hipster."
Ask the producers why they add the substance. Its not hard to find them, I am in Colombia now, some tour guides in the Santa Marta area offers guided tours of "Cocaine Factories" in the jungle.
Surely a determined researcher could make it out there, or to a Colombian jail to ask the question. Its ludicrous to attempt to solve this in the lab.
See the link above: "How to Make a Levamisole Test Kit."
Great job and I am now a huge fan.
What about test kits for those living in other states?