A combination of drugs is spreading rapidly from Latin America and has alerted authorities in several European countries. “Pink cocaine” is said to be responsible for more and more deaths. “It wreaks havoc from the point of view of the combination and at the same time of the marketing”, draw the attention of the experts.
Drugs are becoming a growing threat from here PHOTO: Pixabay
A cocktail of synthetic drugs known as pink cocaine has quickly become a major concern in Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries, notes Joseph Janes, professor of criminology, Swansea University, UK, in an article picked up by the BBC. com.
The authorities in Spain succeeded a few days ago in one of the biggest blows given to traffickers of synthetic drugs, confiscating a large quantity of pink cocaine and over a million pills of ecstasy. The Spanish authorities’ operation focused on drug trafficking networks in Ibiza and Malaga. But the drug has spread beyond Ibiza in the UK, with evidence of it gaining ground in Scotland, parts of Wales and England, while across the Atlantic in New York it is becoming increasingly available, Professor Joseph Janes.
Why pink cocaine is so dangerous
An increasing number of deaths have recently been linked to pink cocaine, in the countries where it has penetrated. The unpredictable composition and growing popularity make it particularly dangerous. It is difficult to test using standard tests. Although it is called “pink cocaine”, the mixture of substances may not even contain cocaine, experts warn.
“It is a combination, a cocktail, also found in Romania. It wreaks havoc from the point of view of combination and at the same time of marketing, because colorings are also used, it also has flavor (n. red – pink color and taste and smell of strawberries). We are talking about a cocktail: the basic cocaine, plus MDMA (that is, ecstasy, but in powder form), ketamine and add drugs (2C-B) that are rare and very powerful and expensive at the same time”, explains the anti-drug expert Cătălin Țone.
The mixture also reached Romania, having been captured two years ago, in the context of a music festival. The cocktail is on the other hand very expensive, several hundred euros/gram, which makes it even more coveted.
“The danger lies in mixing stimulant drugs with central nervous system depressants. That is, the ones that give you energy boosts, but at the same time ketamine, which is a central nervous system depressant (it’s an anesthetic for horses and cows, hijacked from the legal circuit)”. adds the anti-drug expert Cătălin Țone.
The original psychedelic form of the drug is half a century old. It was first synthesized by the American biochemist Alexander Shulgin, but the modern version appeared around 2010 in Colombia, from where it spread to Europe, and is an imitation, writes Professor Joseph Janes. It is known as both “pink cocaine” and “Venus” and “Eros”. Today’s form is “an unpredictable mixture of substances”hence the extremely high danger from ketamine, as ketamine abuse can cause unconsciousness or difficulty breathing. “It’s like playing Russian roulette”Janes further points out.
“Drugs don’t forgive anyone. We have many young people in rural areas who do not have money and still use drugs”
I asked the psychologist and addiction specialist Mihai Copăceanu how young people end up in the traffickers’ trap, if the danger of consuming such drugs is somehow greater for children and young people who come from hand-dealing families and if these mixtures are more dangerous than “classic” drugs. Drugs do not bypass anyone, explains the specialist. Traffickers have greatly refined their hooking methods, while the mixtures they put on the market are becoming more and more dangerous.
Is there a certain pattern, a certain route, for handshake drug addicts? Do they start like everyone else, “hunted” by the dealers who hang around schools, universities, or are they initiated in some other way?
It is a mistake to think that drug dealers sit 50 m from school, at school fences and sell drugs during school breaks or after classes. Those who have been detected in this way are exceptions, as the young people would say “they are not real dealers”. Mainly, the vast majority of drug dealers do not risk dealing drugs in public, they hide from the crowd, they have very discreet methods, they have secret communication channels (especially online) and they do not expose themselves irresponsibly.
Most students are people who do not have substantial financial resources. But those who have a preference for expensive drugs such as cocaine or crack are those who have substantial financial resources and who are primarily attracted to their social circles also characterized by people with a high financial status and a luxurious lifestyle. The network is extremely exclusive, the prices being very high. Cocaine is highly addictive even after the first dose, in some cases, which means that whoever chooses to use cocaine has hundreds of euros available at a party, in one evening.
What generally throws young people into the trap of drugs, why do they try?
It’s a very general question. Each young person has their own reasons depending on a number of characteristics and subjective factors from age to background, educational level, personal skills, thinking style, personality traits, social and family environment, life stages and life events .
We have the experimental consumer who is simply curious, has consumed at least once and is not trying again, but wanted to experience some states and risks. And he can say that he felt good (or not) but that he doesn’t want to experiment with drugs anymore. There is the second type, the social consumer, the one who consumes with friends, feels integrated in the group, feels good, wants to feel euphoria, pleasure and have fun every time. And may not experience any negative effects.
The third category is the at-risk user, who uses frequently, as opposed to occasionally, and rarely seeks help. For him, feeling high is an end in itself and a coping mechanism for negative emotions.
Next comes the problem user, and in his case substance use becomes the main means of spending free time, coping with stress, or both. In other words, he doesn’t wait for a weekend or a party to have fun, he can consume every day of the week and will do anything to get his fix.
So we are talking about regular, constant consumption, lifestyle changes precisely to adapt to consumption, negative consequences in many areas of life and consumption despite some negative effects. Changes occur in the group of friends and unfortunately very few of them come into contact with health or psychological services, perhaps only in emergency cases.
Finally, the person who becomes addicted to drugs in the scientific sense is the stage in which we are talking about a brain disorder characterized by loss of control, compulsive use, tolerance, withdrawal, personality changes, health problems, psychological complications and physiological and hospital admissions. So, an inability to stop despite serious negative effects.
Are young people who have money more likely to consume?
They are more likely to use expensive drugs. But I don’t want us to fall into the trap of a prejudice, a false idea, like that young people with money are more at risk for drug use. Drugs forgive no one. We have many young people in the countryside who don’t have money and still use drugs, which are cheaper, of course.
Young people who have certain psychological needs and happen to have money use drugs. The truth is different: that most young people who use drugs and come to therapy are not young people with high financial status. Only in the case of cocaine or other expensive drugs, having money is a factor that facilitates the consumption of these drugs, you order easily because you have a lot of money on your card. And here there is another prejudice, that if you bought something expensive, it is also something of quality, “I don’t put any f****** in me, I paid a lot of money”. In reality, the goal of dealers is to sell as expensive as possible, substances that have as little real value as possible.
Laboratory analyzes have shown that in the case of “pink cocaine”, it is not cocaine, it is not a luxury drug, but a combination of much cheaper substances such as ketamine, ecstasy and caffeine. In drug trafficking, lies and fraud are mandatory methods used, the purity of the drugs being very low. No one ever sells what they claim to sell.
Does the type of drug consumed matter in the addiction treatment process? If so, is the road to recovery easier or harder for cocktail drugs like pink cocaine?
The toxicity of drugs and their effects on the brain and other organs (short and long term) are much more severe with multiple drug use.
As a specialist in addictions, I found certain correlations between the preferences for certain types of drugs and the psycho-emotional reasons of the consumer. I have often found users who are deeply interested, fascinated and passionate about drug combinations, users who have read a lot about the characteristics of the drugs, watched interviews and podcasts with former users, and some even have a curiosity about the effects of the drugs on them and will to experiment. What I mean is that it is much more difficult to treat addiction in cases where there is an emotional and intellectual attachment to certain substances, which leads to a certain lifestyle, not just social consumption or some party. If alcohol is also involved, the situation gets more complicated.
