Arsenic’s Link to Cocaine

Cocaine users may risk an illness they had not bargained for--arsenic poisoning.

Three doctors reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last week that they treated an 18-year-old man who developed nausea, vomiting, profuse diarrhea and a painful tingling after repeated use of cocaine.

When they examined him, they also uncovered muscle weakness in the legs, an inability to sense pain, temperature change and vibration in the hands and feet. Finally, when they tested his hair and urine, they discovered levels of arsenic, one of the deadliest poisons known, at roughly 10 times normal levels.

“Although the association of cocaine abuse and arsenic intoxication was surprising to us, the patient was unimpressed with our medical detective work and informed us that it is common knowledge that cocaine may be ‘cut’ with compounds containing arsenic,” said Drs. Howard Levin, William Weiner and J. Lombard of the University of Miami School of Medicine.