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The levamisole test kit for cocaine

DoseNation.com contributor Nathan Messer of DanceSafe was instrumental in developing a testing kit for cocaine tainted with levamisole. Brendan Kiley at the Stranger covers the story:

Typically, it's difficult for drug users to reliably test their drugs for impurities -- it requires expensive, unstable, and sometimes dangerous chemicals used in laboratory conditions. But when Nathan Messer, head of the local drug-harm-reduction group DanceSafe, got in touch with a doctor in Seattle named Mike Clark (a psychiatrist and molecular biologist at Harborview) about levamisole, Dr. Clark had a moment of inspiration. He was already familiar with levamisole. He'd been using it in his lab for years, as a way to block an enzyme that interferes with certain color-change reactions in tissue samples. (Technically speaking, levamisole inhibits most types of mammalian alkaline phosphatase -- it slows the enzyme to a crawl, preventing it from working.) Dr. Clark's idea was to inhibit the enzyme and then test for the inhibition.

The result: DanceSafe and Dr. Clark created an easy-to-use kit out of inexpensive materials that tests for levamisole. The Stranger is paying for some of the materials, helping to distribute the kits, and collecting anonymous data about what we learn.

Posted By jamesk at 2010-11-11 13:15:09 permalink | comments
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Monkey. : 2014-04-01 23:35:37
"That's nice but everybody buying cocaine and crack is providing direct material support to the most murderous scumbags on the planet. No way around it."

The US government?

newbee. : 2013-07-01 08:20:13
how long does levamisole stay in your system ?
gwyllm : 2010-11-15 14:48:52
?
Nathan. : 2010-11-15 14:44:07
Blaming the users ain't gonna solve anything, Aminorex. If this were an above-board operation, we could apply more direct consumer pressure, there could be class-action lawsuits, regulation and reporting of contents, production methods, etc. As it is we get this. People won't stop using, no matter how rageguy you get, so we gotta reduce the harms to users while fixing this completely broken drug policy system.

amino rex. : 2010-11-14 02:00:51
Wow this phone is hard to type on, if you can't infer the remainder of that mangled paragraph then fuck you too
amino rex. : 2010-11-14 01:58:18
That's nice but everybody buying cocaine and crack is providing direct material support to the most murderous scumbags on the planet. No way around it.

With other shit there's at least the excuse you might be supporting locals or whatever makes you feel better about it. With coke there can be no such ambiguity.

No users will probably get this because they're already fucking retarded enough to be using the shittiest drugs around and thinking its hip.

Typical Stranger hypocrisy, write up an excellent article highlighting the evils of the south american drug trade and then call for levamisole testing in the interest of "harm reduction"? Fuckin dou

Harm reduction is not saving a few privileged americans' immune systems froom agranulo-whatever- cytosis. Harm reduction is much more vitally anything

loosenut. : 2010-11-13 14:29:04
Go Nathan!

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