Cutting agent

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 ne 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.

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Mannitol - Inositol - Lactose - Cocaine - Methamphetamine - Phencyclidine

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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.

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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.

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When choosing a cutting agent, the illegal drug manufacturer or dealer attempts to find a chemical that is inexpensive, easy to obtain, relavively 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

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The common belief that street drugs are often cut with ground glass, scouring powders and all sorts of other poisonous substances is largely mythical.

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For further information see:

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Coomber, R. (1997a) Vim in the Veins - Fantasy or Fact: The Adulteration of Illicit Drugs, Addiction Research, Vol 5, No. 3. pp. 195-212

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Coomber, R. (1997b) The Adulteration of Drugs: What Dealers Do, What Dealers Think, Addiction Research, Vol 5, No. 4. pp. 297-306

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Coomber, R. (1997c) ?Adulteration of Drugs: The Discovery of a Myth', Contemporary Drug Problems, Vol 24, No. 2. pp. 239-271

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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.

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