Argentine Police Search for Adulterated Cocaine That has Already Claimed 22 Lives

The Argentine police are rushing to search for adulterated cocaine that has already claimed 22 lives and left more than 80 others in the hospital. Health authorities have issued an “epidemiological warning” due to the magnitude of the problem.

Residents of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires are asked to immediately throw away recently purchased cocaine and not to use it as it may be contaminated. The coke is likely mixed with opioids, Provincial Security Chief Sergio Berni said. These are powerful painkillers that can cause severe convulsions and heart attacks.

Hard drugs are cut to reduce costs and increase profits. “Every dealer who sells cocaine is cutting it,” Berni told the French news agency AFP. “Some do that with non-toxic substances such as starch. Others use hallucinogens. If there is no control, these kinds of things happen.”

Authorities report that “a large amount of cocaine” has already been removed from the streets by the Buenos Aires police in recent days. “This tragedy could have been more serious,” a spokesman said.

The case got rolling when four people arrived at the hospital after taking cocaine simultaneously. Unfortunately, all four of them died. Of the more than eighty people who are currently admitted to ten different hospitals, twenty are on a ventilator.

Never before has Argentina, where drug use has risen sharply since the 1980s, been hit by such a major crisis, according to prosecutor Marcelo Lapargo. This may be the result of human error in a laboratory. Three members of a criminal gang have been arrested. The most important thing at the moment, according to Lapargo, is that all contaminated cocaine disappears from the streets. “This is a very exceptional situation.”