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REGIONAL WRAP: SEIZED COCAINE CUT WITH POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS MEDICATION

Monday, August 24, 2009 11:05 AM CDT

A laboratory analysis of cocaine seized by police officers in Drew County in May revealed the illegal drug was cut or diluted with an animal deworming medication that can destroy white blood cells in humans, according to stories in three Southeast Arkansas daily newspapers.

“Cocaine tainted with levamisole has been reported to have been found in other areas of the country and is now being increasingly seen in Arkansas,” 10th Judicial District Prosecutor Thomas Deen told the Advance Monticellonian. “Levamisole can wipe out white blood cells in humans, and has resulted in serious illness that resembles a rapidly growing infection.”

Deen was quoted as saying the individual from whom the tainted drug was seized likely had no knowledge that it had been cut with the animal deworming medication. Levamisole apparently is added in cocaine-producing countries.

It is not unusual for narcotics investigators to find contraband that has been diluted with a number of compounds to increase the volume of the illegal product available for sale.

“The vast majority of the cocaine in this nation is produced in other countries and that’s likely were it was diluted,” Deen said.

Public health agencies have issued health advisories and alerts as recently as June about the practice of diluting cocaine with levamisole and the effect the medication can have on humans, according to the Advance Monticellonian, The Times-News of McGehee and Dermott and The Dumas Clarion.

A flyer distributed in June by the Seattle & King County Public Health Department indicated the animal deworming medication can be found in both powder and crack cocaine and the drug user will not be able to detect it; it will smell, taste and look the same.

Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, hives, high fever, chills, weakness, swollen glands, painful sores, a rapidly progressing infection that won’t heal, and thrush.

The weekly publications quoted Deen as saying cocaine users experiencing the symptoms should immediately contact a physician.

Trauma center

Delta Memorial Hospital’s application to become a trauma center under Arkansas’ new statewide system as been accepted by the Arkansas Trauma Advisory Council, The Dumas Clarion said.

Some confusion surfaced when the Dumas hospital was not on an original list of 62 hospitals that had applied by the July 1 deadline. Interim administrator Cris Krost Bolin then checked with the state Health Department and ascertained the application for Level 4 status had been received and “everything is okay.”

Other area hospitals approved for Level 4 status include McGehee-Desha County Hospital, DeWitt Hospital, Drew Memorial Hospital at Monticello, Chicot Memorial Hospital at Lake Village, Baptist Health Medical Center at Stuttgart and Bradley County Medical Center at Warren, The Clarion said. Ashley County Medical Center applied for Level 3 status, while Jefferson Regional Medical Center at Pine Bluff was approved for the more advanced Level 2 classification.

Daytime curfew

The city’s new daytime curfew for juveniles and mosquito control were the key items on the agenda for the McGehee City Council Tuesday night, The Times-News said.

Mayor Jack May reminded residents that the new daytime curfew ordinance for minors starts Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., coinciding with the first day of school. Aldermen unanimously approved the ordinance in June that gives law enforcement officials the authority to detain truant students on the streets during the day, unless supervised by a parent.

Nathan O’Neal, manager of Vector Disease Control Inc., the city’s mosquito control provider, updated aldermen on mosquito control efforts for July, noting that mosquito counts spiked in early July due to heavy rains, but have begun to dissipate. O’Neal said VDCI provided two aerial applications over the city in July as well as nightly truck sprays and larvacide applications.

O’Neal said the number of mosquitoes caught in traps declined since the aerial applications, and no mosquitoes have tested positive for the West Nile virus in the McGehee area.

Top practitioner

Judy Lattimore of McGehee was awarded Delta Counseling Associates’ Practitioner of the Year award for 2009 at the annual Behavioral Health Institute held at Hot Springs on Aug. 11.

She began working with Delta Counseling in 1987, The Times-News noted, as a licensed practical nurse crisis case manager. After obtaining licensure as a registered nurse in 1997, she spent the next few years working in the nursing field.

She returned to Delta Counseling in 2006 and was promoted in October to Service Center director in McGehee.

Lottery sales

At least four Bradley County businesses have applied to sell lottery tickets in the county, The Eagle Democrat said in a story. The four were among more than 700 in the state filing applications with the state lottery program, with the first tickets scheduled to be sold in late September.

The businesses in Warren include the Tobacco Superstore and two Cash Citgo convenience stores. The Cash store in Hermitage was the fourth in Bradley.

The Eagle Democrat quoted a lottery spokesman as saying the goal is to have 2,600 vendors selling lottery tickets, or one vendor per 1,000 residents.

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