Winnie The Pooh, Hold The Meth Jar

By Jamie Wells, M.D. — Apr 12, 2018
It's no surprise that drug traffickers are quite creative about distributing their products. Recently, the Drug Enforcement Agency and Homeland Security pounced on an operation that used Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh objects to disguise illegal shipments.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons/pngimg.com

It should come as no surprise that drug traffickers are quite creative about distributing their du jour illicit product. Most recently, multiple agencies including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Homeland Security, intercepted an operation using legitimate Disney Donald Ducks and Winnie The Poohs as a cover for their imposter shipments of non-ceramic wax figurines replete with 500 lbs. of meth (estimated to be worth $2 million).

Drugs notoriously have been transferred for distribution using all sorts of vehicles intended to bypass discovery radars. The human body has been among the most dangerous ones. When a person swallows a bag of heroin, fentanyl or cocaine or places them in "other" bodily orifices for protracted periods of time, perforation of the container allows rapid exposure of a massive dose directly into the bloodstream and the carrier dies.  

And consider, how trustworthy are drug dealers for quality assurance? Are you really getting what they tell you? There is no regulatory oversight here. Though the drugs themselves are dangerous, the contaminants can cause equal to greater deleterious effects. For instance, cocaine is routinely cut with anything that is powdery and white. This can include bleach, detergents, even talc – none of which are intended for inhalation or ingestion.

We don’t need to look much further than the catastrophic events that began in Illinois surrounding rat poison’s inclusion in “synthetic cannabinoids” –often mistakenly called “fake pot” or “synthetic marijuana” as if they are somehow the same as pot, when, in fact, they are often much, much worse. The misnomer significantly compounds the problems.

The active ingredient of the contaminant is a blood thinner and has caused deaths as well as countless hospitalizations at outbreak levels due to coughing up blood and excessive bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth, urine, and stool. Now, Illinois is not the only state experiencing these frightening consequences as the map has expanded. Review my article here.

These examples reflect a very good argument for why the pharmaceutical industry is regulated. How much it is might be a source for debate, but the underlying goal of patient safety and protection will still guide the tide. So, no matter whether your interest is in experimentation, recreation or stems from addiction, recognize that faith in the purity of the harmful substance on its own as well as the drug dealer providing it is quite the gamble. Are you willing to bet your life?

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