Sun investigation nds benzocaine is the latest terrifying...

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Numb and dumber

By NICK FRANCIS Published: 08 Sep 2010
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A DENTAL anaesthetic which can cause the heart to stop is being used by youngsters as a terrifying new legal high.
Britain's towns and cities are being flooded with benzocaine, a white powder bought easily on the internet and producing a similar effect to cocaine. The white powder is often snorted just like coke but now a Sun investigation can reveal that dealers are turning it into brack, a substitute for crack, the crystallised rock version of cocaine. Benzocaine known as benzo is used in the UK as a dental anaesthetic and as an ingredient in first-aid ointments, throat sprays and sunburn remedies. It is even used in condoms to help prevent premature ejaculation. But it also has similar effects to cocaine, numbing the gums and nose, and gives a similar high, although weaker. Now there are fears that it will become as widespread as meow meow, which was banned in April after a Sun campaign. It is only illegal to sell benzocaine if the authorities can prove that the suppliers know it is being used in black market drug activity. For years it has been the cutting agent of choice for greedy coke dealers, who mix it to make the class A drug go further. Today, nearly 40 per cent of coke bought on the street is less than nine per cent pure. The UK has the highest rates of cocaine abuse in Europe and, according to Home Office statistics, up to 365,000 people have used coke in the past month. Dealers have realised that benzocaine can be "washed" into a version of crack which is much less expensive to produce. By selling brack the benzocaine version the profit margin for dealers is up to 10,000 per cent.
New menace ... benzocaine

Benzocaine: The truth

The User: SINGLE mum Julie Jones uses benzocaine every weekend and has a reckless attitude to the dangers.
The 37-year-old part-time cleaner, from Liverpool, says: "I love the feeling. It's a bit like coke but not as strong. "It makes my gums and nose go numb then makes me feel hyper, sort of happy. "I can stay awake and dancing all night sometimes. "It makes me really talkative as well, just like a weaker version of cocaine. "The buzz is best when having a drink with it. I can get through one or two grams in a night. I buy it off a guy who sells me three grams for about 40. He uses it as well but dabs it on his gums rather than snorting it. "I've been taking benzo for six years in total now but it's increased recently. I like the fact it isn't illegal. It makes me feel better about what I'm taking. I'm noticing far more people on it these days. "It's popular with people who don't want to get on drugs which might be cut with cr*p. "I know it won't actually be good for me but it's got to be less damaging than normal coke. I mean, what isn't bad for you these days?"

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And because it is readily available online imported from China and the Far East they feel they are operating SUN BINGO within the law, although selling it for recreational use is Play online highly illegal.
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The Dealers:

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THE SUN spoke to one shameless dealer who buys benzocaine to turn into brack and makes big profits conning users into thinking it is crack. He told us: "It looks and burns like crack. It gives you a strong buzz. Not as much of a hit as crack but good enough so punters can't tell. "It's ridiculously profitable because it doesn't contain cocaine, which is a lot of money. Dealers used to add a little bit of cocaine to make it better but people just serve up pure benzo rocks now. "It's like putting a glass diamond in front of you you can't tell the difference." The dealer, from the North East, who refused to reveal his identity, added: "There are teenagers in gangs who use benzo-crack to get going then smoke skunk to come down. "The lads bringing in benzo are making more money than cocaine smugglers. "You can import 25-kilo barrels for 2,000 each and sell it on to the underworld for 10,000 a barrel. "They use industrial compressors, catering blenders and even car jacks to compress it back to crystalline form so that it even looks like freshly imported cocaine."

A rock of crack costs 10 on the street but a dealer will sell brack for 5 a rock. But it is no less dangerous. Dr Ken Checinski, consultant psychiatrist to drugs information service Frank and medical director of charity Addaction, says: "We are already working on getting the message out early to youngsters who think that benzocaine is a safer version or cocaine. "It isn't. It still causes massive damage. than coke. The effects are weaker, although present, so they take more to replicate the high from cocaine. "In high dosages benzocaine can cause the heart to stop a massive heart attack. "When smoked or snorted in bigger dosages it gets into the lungs, which can cause them to fill up with fluid. "This rising trend in benzocaine use is very concerning, and we are aware it is growing in popularity with youngsters. "It is used widely in the medical profession, which means it is easy to get hold of." Benzocaine is bought online legitimately by pharmaceutical companies. But the authorities are extremely concerned about the increasing use of benzocaine to get high. They believe it is also introducing drug-takers to coke and crack. An operation headed by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has uncovered mountains of benzocaine at ports over the past few months as dealers look for bigger and bigger quantities. In just one week in May more than two tons were found at the port of Felixstowe in Suffolk and Stansted Airport. The 83 barrels had a street value of 150,000 but when sold as cocaine would have been worth 94million. Now those caught importing vast quantities of benzocaine will have the book thrown at them, as authorities try desperately to clamp down on the spiralling trade. Brodie Clark, head of the UK Border Agency, said: "With the purity levels of street-level cocaine falling, preventing the importation of cutting agents is becoming increasingly important. "Last month a woman was jailed for nine years after we successfully proved that importing a cutting agent illegally was tantamount to supplying cocaine. "That landmark ruling gives us much greater scope to target those involved in all aspects of drug-smuggling, including those importing the likes of benzocaine." But this won't be able to stop people buying benzocaine online. A simple Google search of "buy benzocaine" yielded thousands of results. One website offers 1kg of benzocaine for 200. Another states: "Benzocaine is no longer importable to the UK. "As a result, we only have limited stocks and cash on delivery is no longer available. Please phone for our best price but be quick."

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The Doctor: SUN Doctor Carol Cooper says: "Benzocaine is similar to cocaine. While it is an anaesthetic, it doesn't send you to sleep.
"It is an upper and it has unpredictable effects. It makes you excited, talkative, over-active and twitchy. "My main worry is its effect on the heart. It can make your heart beat very irregularly and can even cause it to stop. "A lot of people who are taking coke are not taking the pure stuff, so they probably think they can take huge amounts of it. But in reality much of what they are snorting could be baking soda. "If someone who takes coke regularly goes on to use something such as benzocaine which can come in a much purer form they run the risk of having a serious, possibly fatal reaction. "Just because benzocaine is legal, it certainly doesn't make it a good idea."

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Mick Matthews, Deputy Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police and cocaine specialist for the Association of Chief Police Officers, says: "An individual was found to be selling what could be used as cutting agents in vast quantities from his garage on a housing estate, advertising in local papers and also on the internet. "You can see a massive mark-up on the imported substances. The mark-up again from the cutting agent being added to an illegal substance well, that just goes through the roof.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/312972...
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"A kilo of cocaine has a current price of around 50,000. If you double that kilo with benzocaine and you have two kilos, the dealer could then probably knock that out for something in the region of 80,000 to 90,000. "So, as you can see, the profit margin on their initial outlay is significant." It's clear that this latest drugs problem isn't going to go away fast. n.francis@the-sun.co.uk
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