Pharmaceuticals cocaine

When cocaine hydrochloride was first isolated in the late 1880s it revolutionized sur-gery and was widely prescribed for a time. Now, in the 1980s, its medical application is limited, but its popularity as a recreational drug is growing by leaps and bounds. On the black market, this ounce of pure, pharmaceutical cocaine would be worth itpwards of 2000. (leremy Bigwood)... 

Keywords SFE opiates pharmaceuticals cocaine methadone fortifying MS/MS Introduction... 

Other uses include use as a reaction and extraction solvent in pharmaceutical production as an intermediate for the preparation of catalysts, antioxidants (qv), and perfumes and as a feedstock in the production of methyl isopropenyl ketone, 2,3-butanedione, and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. Concern has also arisen at the large volume of exported MEK which has been covertly diverted and used to process cocaine in Latin American countries... 

Many alkaloids have pronounced biological properties, and a substantial number of the pharmaceutical agents used today are derived from naturally occurring amines. As a few examples, morphine, an analgesic agent, is obtained from the opium poppy Papaver somnifemm. Cocaine, both an anesthetic and a central nervous system stimulant, is obtained front the coca bush Erythroxylon coca, endemic to upland rain forest areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and western Brazil. Reserpine, a tranquilizer and antihypertensive, comes from powdered roots of the semitropical plant Rauwolfia serpentina. Ephedrine, a bronchodilator and decongestant, is obtained front the Chinese plant Ephedra sinica. 

One of the most accomplished forensic pathologists in the world, Dr. Steven B. Karch is a fellow of several forensic and toxicological societies and has served many years as consultant to both the legal community and the pharmaceutical industry. He has authored several books including one of the most widely used textbooks in the field, Pathology of Drug Abuse, now in its fourth edition, and A Brief History of Cocaine, now in its second edition (also available through CRC Press). 

Woolverton WL and Johnson KM (1992). Neurobiology of cocaine abuse. Trends in Pharmaceutical Science, 13, 193-200. 

Once the cocaine has been legally produced from the coca leaf, it is exported to various countries for medicinal use, basically as a topical local anesthetic (applied to the surface, not injected, only treating a particular area). In the United States the crystalline powder is imported to pharmaceutical companies who process and package the cocaine for medical use. Merck Pharmaceutical Company and Mallinckrodt Chemical Works distribute cocaine in crystalline form (Hydrochloride Salt) in dark colored glass bottles to pharmacies and hospitals throughout the United States. Cocaine, in the alkaloid form (base drug containing no additives such as hydrochloride in the crystalline form) is rarely used for medicinal purposes. Cocaine hydrochloride crystals or flakes come in Vs, A and 1 ounce bottles from the manufacturer and has a wholesale price of approximately 20 to 25 per ounce (100% pure). 

Sc parishes the slave of cocaine. Wilh every nerve clamoring, all he can do is to renew the lash of the poison, The pharmaceutical effect is over the toxic effect accumulates, The nerves become insane. The victim begins to have hallucinations. See There is a grey cat in that chair. I said nothing, but it has been there all the time. ... 

Long before the advent of modern pharmaceutical drugs, several herbal medications were employed for the alleviation of mental disorders. Some of these are considered impractical by today s standards for treatment of psychopathology. For a short time, Freud advocated the use of cocaine to alleviate depression. Cannabis and opium were used to treat agitation. Other herbal medications are being supported by scientific research and seriously considered by the medical community. Some are offered here more for historical interest, and yet others have only recently added psychotherapeutic value to their list of potential benefits. 

Forensic analysis of street drugs include that of cocaine together with excipients frequently encountered (579), amphetamines 080), and dyes found in heroin samples 081). An on-line photochemical derivitization of cannabinoids has been described 082). Other pharmaceutical agents studied in formation include nortriptyline in tablets. 083), glycyrrhizic acid from licorice extract 084, 585), pirimiphos methyl 086), digitalis glycosides 0S7), pilocarpine 088), and its antagonist atropine 009). 

Doping substances include most of the drugs already discussed in the previous sections (e.g., drugs of abuse like amphetamines, cocaine, opiates pharmaceutical drugs like diuretics, beta-blockers, etc.) and, in most cases, the described methods may be extended to doping control applications. 

There are not currently any medications that have been approved for treatment of MDMA addiction. In actuality, very few drugs of abuse have possible medical (pharmaceutical) treatments. Heroin addiction is one disease that is treatable by pharmaceutical means. Heroin addiction is often treated with methadone or levo-alpha-acetyl methadol (LAAM) administration. Similarly, alcohol addiction may be treated with pharmacological tools. However, most stimulants, such as cocaine, amphetamine, and MDMA, do not have medications available for treatment of addiction. 

Stimulant drugs commonly abused in the USA include methamphetamine ("crank," "crystal"), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy"), and cocaine ("crack") as well as pharmaceuticals such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and ephedrine (as such and in the herbal agent Ma-huang) (see Chapter 32). Caffeine is often added to dietary supplements sold as "metabolic enhancers" or "fat-burners" and is also sometimes combined with pseudoephedrine in underground pills sold as amphetamine substitutes. 

UNODC statistics take all of this information into consideration and suggest that there are between 15 and 16 million methamphetamine users worldwide, i.e. a similar number as heroin or cocaine users at the global level. The number of amphetamine users is estimated to be lower, at around 4 million people. A further 5 million people are estimated to consume various diverted pharmaceutical preparations or other illegal stimulants, such as methcathinone. Again, it is important to recall that these are only tentative estimates based on information made available to UNODC by Member States. Furthermore, one should be aware that the actual numbers for the individual substances could be slightly higher as poly-drug use is known to be common, and could well extend to ATS consumption as well.1... 

Source Institute for Biomedical and pharmaceutical Research, Fist ever comparative multi-country study of cocaine use by a new measurement technique, NQrnberg, November 2006. 

R. A. Dean, R. H. B. Sample, N. Dumaul, and W. Bosron, Simultaneous determination of cocaine, ethylcocaine, and benzoyecgon-ine by HPLC, 3rd International Symposium on Pharmaceutical Biomedical Analysis, 1991. 

A 200,000 fine imposed in October 1977 by the Drag Enforcement Administration on Pennwalt Pharmaceuticals, after Pennwalt was convicted of 17 counts of questionable practices in the production of medicines containing cocaine. 

In conclusion, animal studies have shown that MPH has an abuse liability similar to that of other Schedule II stimulants, including amphetamine, methamphetamine, and cocaine. Actual data on abuse indicate that the pattern of MPH abuse is similar to that of other potent psychostimulants and that MPH is diverted and abused to a similar extent as other pharmaceutical Schedule II substances. Taken collectively, the data indicate that MPH fits the profile of a Schedule II substance. 

There is considerable interest in the design of biosensors for drugs of abuse (cocaine, heroin, morphine, etc.), as well as for prescription pharmaceutical compounds (see 267,325, and 326 for reviews). Typically these sensors are of the liquid membrane type, containing an organic compound reactive to the drug. A cocaine sensor, for example, consists of a PVC membrane plasticized with dibutyl phtalate, and containing tetraphenylborate as the active substance. A strychnine sensor uses a liquid membrane electrode based on ion pairs of strychnine with picrolonate or tetrakis (3-methylpheny)borate. 

Exceptions to this last observation are encountered when the colored materials happen to be present in the same phase where, because of their excessive absorbances, the signal-to-noise ratio is decreased. This kind of complication was successfully handled in direct analytical assays devised for lysergic acid diamide (LSD)f and phencyclidine (PCP) in illicit drugs spiked with intensely colored dyes for L-cocaine, morphine, and methadone in the pharmaceutical product commonly referred to as Brompton s cocktails and for D-pseudoephedrine in children s Sudafed. ... 

Patients continue to be drugged with chronic addictive medications as pharmaceutical firms profit from our suffering. Cocaine and ecstacy are at an all time low price. People interesting in developing medications and researching the entactogen series (legally) have been terrorized by law enforcement for money, with federal prosecutors in complicity. 

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