Nearly a third of all cocaine seized in the United States is laced with a dangerous veterinary medicine — a livestock de-worming drug that might enhance cocaine’s effects but has been blamed in at least three deaths and scores of serious illnesses.
The medication called levamisole has killed at least three people in the U.S. and Canada and sickened more than 100 others. It can be used in humans to treat colorectal cancer, but it severely weakens the body’s immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to fatal infections.
Scientific studies suggest levamisole might give cocaine a more intense high, possibly by increasing levels of dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” neurotransmitters.
Drug Enforcement Administration documents reviewed by The Associated Press indicate that 30 percent of all U.S. cocaine seizures are tainted with the drug. And health officials told the AP that most physicians know virtually nothing about its risks.
“I would think it would be fair to say the vast majority of doctors in the United States have no idea this is going on,” said Eric Lavonas, assistant director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver, where as much as half of the cocaine is believed to contain levamisole. “You can’t diagnose a disease you’ve never heard of.”
Authorities believe cocaine manufacturers are adding the levamisole in Colombia, before the cocaine is smuggled into the U.S. and Canada to be sold as white powder or crack.
Economic pressures may play a role. Decreased supply in the U.S. has raised cocaine prices and lowered street-level purity. Cocaine traffickers may believe levamisole adds an extra boost to an otherwise weakened product.
Levamisole started showing up frequently in cocaine from Colombia in January 2008. By late last year, the DEA concluded that the spiked cocaine was in wide circulation.
At the same time, hospitals around the country began noticing more cocaine users coming in with agranulocytosis, an illness that suppresses white blood cells necessary to fight off infections.
In Spokane, Wash., a woman in her mid-40s who tested positive for cocaine turned up at a hospital suffering from rashes and other maladies. She eventually died, and the doctor who investigated suspected she had used cocaine laced with levamisole. Doctors suspect levamisole in at least three other illnesses in the Spokane area.
“It’s hard to know where this contamination (is), in what part of the country it’s located, because there’s really no systematic testing for it,” said Dr. Joel McCullough, health officer for the Spokane area.
“I don’t think it’s on the radar of a lot of people, so if there are some other symptoms, I don’t know if many clinicians would think to consider that.”
Other suspected levamisole deaths occurred in New Mexico and in Alberta, Canada.
Many other people have become gravely ill, including about a dozen patients in Denver and 10 more in Seattle. At least one patient in each city required intensive care or extensive surgery.
In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers suggested that the medication might increase dopamine in the brain, as it has in previous animal experiments.
Levamisole “elevates opiate levels in various brain regions, like codeine and morphine,” said Don LeGatt, a clinical toxicologist at the University of Alberta who has studied levamisole in cocaine. “Once you get those elevated, people tend to feel fairly comfortable and not too bad.”
The tainted cocaine has received only limited attention in the U.S., though federal authorities are monitoring its use, said Paul Knierim, a DEA spokesman in Washington.
“I think the message is the same: Don’t use cocaine, it’s a dangerous drug,” Knierim said.
Doctors and hospitals remain largely unaware of the cocaine additive. A spokesman for the New Mexico health department said his office plans to write a piece for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention newsletter in September.
LeGatt said doctors should consider levamisole exposure in cases where otherwise healthy adults or newborn babies come down with infections because of low white blood cell counts. But the levamisole only appears in urine for a few days after exposure, meaning tests should be done as soon as possible.
“When they ask their patients, they’re probably going to deny that they use cocaine,” he said. “But I think it’s important for physicians to persevere to try and elucidate whether or not it is the cause.”
In Denver, after word spread about levamisole in cocaine, one man who fell ill asked a doctor if the “animal drug” could have been making him sick. Health officials including Lavonas say the public needs to be warned about the dangers.
“It’s not like you can put it on the bottle,” he said.
"Will Smith, I need this job mayne!!!! Don't make me do another stupid kids movie!"
Columbia Pictures is developing a third installment of the high-octane “Bad Boys” franchise, tapping Peter Craig to pen the screenplay.
The hope is to have a script that would reunite director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. At this point, with the project in the early stages, none has a deal to return.
The “Boys” movies feature Smith and Lawrence as Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, caught up in cases involving car chases and explosions.
The first “Boys,” released in 1995, helped launch Bay as a director and Smith as an action star even though it was not a fire-stamped blockbuster — it grossed $66 million domestically and $141 million worldwide.
The sequel, released in 2003 when Bay and Smith’s stars had risen, grossed $138 million domestically and $273 million worldwide.
Queen Sophie-Anne is True Blood’s new equal-opportunity vampire.
Evan Rachel Wood, who makes her devilish debut on the show this coming Sunday playing the 1,100-year-old bloodsucker boss lady of Louisiana, says she could end up having sex scenes with any of her costars.
“She’s not necessarily a lesbian,” Wood, 21, recently explained to me. “Her human partner is a girl, but I’m pretty sure she goes both ways [laughs].
I’m not sure why I am talking to you because I don’t think you’re allowed to tell me anything, right?
[Laughs] I can tease! What do you want to know?
I want to know who you are going to have sex with. Are you more Eric or Bill, and what kind of drama is Queen Sophie-Ann starting?
I figured that those would be the questions! Who do I have sex with? Well, I don’t know if I am having sex with anyone yet, but I certainly have a steamy scene with someone that I don’t think you’d really expect. So it will be a little fun.
So no Eric or Bill? Because I think that is what everyone is assuming.
Um, I’m not saying anything. I can’t say either way.
How did you end up on the show?
I watched the first season and loved the show, so I got in touch with [series creator] Alan Ball and said, “Keep an eye out for anything that might pop up.” I thought it was a long shot, but then later on I got a call saying they needed a queen.
Did you know anything about the queen beforehand?
I didn’t. I said yes, even before I read the script. I didn’t really care.
This past Sunday’s episode was so crazy. I was just watching it and going, “What the f–k!”
That’s pretty much how I feel after every episode. [Laughs] Just wait until the last episodes! There’s a lot that is going to happen. It’s going to be insane. Those were the only scripts that I read, and I was just thinking to myself (a) how are they going to film this, (b) how are they going to get away with this, and (c) just what the hell is going on?
Did you have to get naked yet, because everyone on the show gets naked?
I can’t say I do just yet. But they are bringing me back next season, so it’s always a possibility. It’s kind of inevitable.
Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer together again? Get out! It’s true—and this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly goes on the set with Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards, who joined old pal Larry David for the new season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Over the last six seasons, viewers have come to expect the outrageous from Curb, Larry David’s comedic exploration of a man named Larry David. For season 7, the co-creator of Seinfeld decided it was finally time to reunite the gang from his old, pathologically revered NBC sitcom, who up until now had resisted the urge to re-emerge. The story line, which starts in episode 3, is sprinkled over five of the season’s 10 episodes as Larry recruits the cast, then plans and tapes the big Seinfeld reunion (viewers will see a few scenes of the Seinfeld reunion episode on Curb). David is cagey on plot details, and will only hint that “Larry attempts to get [his estranged wife] Cheryl back, and the Seinfeld reunion figures prominently in that.” Adds Louis-Dreyfus, “It’s the anti-reunion reunion, and I’d like to copyright that.”
When David approached Seinfeld about a reunion plot on Curb in spring 2008, the comedian wasn’t terribly worried about mucking around with the legacy of his beloved nine-season show. “The idea of working with Larry was just too overwhelmingly appealing to me, and [Curb] is such a great show,” he says. “There was a little part of me that said, ‘Do we really want to tamper?’…But to hell with it. How much damage can you really do?”
The first scene that the Seinfeld gang shot required them to immediately slip back into their old characters. “Just before we shot that scene, I said to Jerry and Julia, ‘I don’t know if I can be George. I haven’t tried him on in a while,’” recalls Alexander. “And it was freaky how it just came right back out.” Richards, meanwhile, dove in feet first. “I’d always kept Kramer’s shoes,” he notes. “Once I got those shoes on, and I’m standing behind the door of Jerry’s apartment, I was ready.” Being surrounded by the original sets also helped them get back in the mood: The Curb producers tracked down Jerry’s apartment and Monk’s coffee shop in a nearby warehouse. (Some home improvements were required, including replacing Jerry’s apartment door, which Seinfeld had taken as a souvenir.) While this strange trip may not be the reunion scenario that fans expected, both Seinfeld and David agree that it’ll be the only one viewers will ever get. “As far as I’m concerned, we did do it, and in a better way than I ever imagined,” says Seinfeld. “This exceeded my expectations, so there’s no chance I would revisit it now.” And there’s plenty of other action in Curb’s seventh season: Look for appearances by Meg Ryan, Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Shue (who scores a part in the Seinfeld reunion), Sherry Stringfield, Christian Slater, and Sharon Lawrence, as well as the return of Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, and Richard Lewis.
FX is getting serious about its comedy slate, giving series orders to two half-hour laffers.“The League” revolves around a group of longtime guy friends who participate in a fantasy football league. “Louie” stars comic Louis CK as a standup comic and newly single dad raising two daughters in New York City.
Both skeins hail from FX’s inhouse FX Prods. banner. “League” has been picked up for six episodes; “Louie” has a 13-seg order. These pickups come on the heels of a series order last month for animated workplace comedy “Archer” (Daily Variety, July 14).
FX Networks prexy John Landgraf noted that with the “League” and “Louie” orders, FX is poised to have the largest slate of original scripted comedy and drama series of any basic cabler. It’s been a priority for FX to expand its comedy slate and establish an FX “brand” of laffer the way it has with its signature edgy dramas.
“Our brand is about audaciousness and innovation, and those adjectives are equally applicable to drama and comedy series,” Landgraf told Daily Variety.
FX established a toehold in comedy a few years ago with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” but it’s had a tough time finding companion pieces with the creative goods to survive more than one season. And it took patience to grow “Sunny” into a hit; the outre laffer didn’t blossom into a ratings success for the cabler until its third season.
“Once we got ‘Sunny’ squared away, we started to experiment with producing comedies at a fairly low-cost,” Landgraf said, citing last year’s “Testees” as an example. “We came back this year with an enormous amount of force and effort.”
Landgraf described “League” as a kind of suburban-set “Sex and the City” for men. The semi-improv show revolves around the lives of a group of college friends as they’re forced to take on more responsibilities as husbands and fathers.
“Louie” is based on the star’s life and will blend standup material with what Landgraf described as “extended vignettes” depicting moments from his offstage experiences. Louis CK is exec producer, writer and helmer of the series. Dave Becky also exec produces.
“League” is skedded to bow during football season this fall and will probably be paired with segs of “Sunny,” which returns for its fifth season Sept. 17. “Louie” will most likely preem early next year.
“Archer” is also expected to debut later this year, probably with episodes airing in tandem with “Sunny.”
FX’s latest comedy orders come on the heels of its pickup of drama “Lawman,” starring Timothy Olyphant as a U.S. marshal in Kentucky (Daily Variety, July 29).
One of the best scenes from one of my favorite movies. I liked the movie the first time I saw it, but repeated viewings have made me appreciate it even more.
This post is from Mark Cuban’s blog from Aug 19th 2009 10:11PM:
I get deal pitches daily. I want all of you to understand the code words that IMHO are sure fire signs that the entrepreneur has no idea what they are doing and is destined to fail. This is from an email today, redacted of course to protect the guilty. My interpretation of the letter is in bold.
My name is John Doe, CEO and Founder of John Doe Unlimited Innovations and Technology, LLC. JDUIT is an innovation conglomerate, designed for many different industries and is dedicated to improve the quality of life for individuals throughout the world, one step at a time.
The first thing I do at this point is look at the senders email address. Is it an email with the company name in the URL ? If it isnt.. ding, ding, ding. They sender has come up with a name, but doesn’t have the focus or confidence to put up a website. This person was using a gmail account. Next my #FailDar was ringing louder than Larry Kudlow talking nonsense on CNBC about green shoots when I read the “designed for different industries and is dedicated to improve the quality of life of individuals throughout the world, one step at a time” Im sorry, but could anyone possibly invent and write anything that is more full of shit than this person ? That has to go down in business letter history as one of the all time worse lines. If you want to get someone interested in your company, DO NOT tell them you are going to save the world. You are not. No one will believe you will. Save that nonsense for your grandma when you are trying to make her proud of you.
Do your friends cover their ears when you sing along with the radio? Does the choir director ask you to lip-sync?
If you’re one of the unlucky people who is tone-deaf, it turns out your brain may have a wiring problem. That’s what new research published Wednesday suggests.
People who are tone-deaf can’t detect differences in musical pitch but usually have normal hearing and speech. Tone-deafness runs in families, and estimates of how many people have the problem range from 4 percent to 17 percent.
In the small study done in Boston, brain scans showed there was a difference in a particular brain circuit between those who were tone-deaf and those who weren’t. Among the tone-deaf, researchers discovered there were fewer connections between two areas of the brain that perceive and produce sounds.
The study’s lead author, Psyche Loui (SY’-kee LOO’-ee), likened the connection to a highway between two islands in the brain.
In tone-deaf people, “there’s less traffic on the highway,” said Loui, who studies music and the brain at Harvard Medical School and is also a musician.
Loui and her colleagues took brain scans of 20 people, half of them tone-deaf. Those who were tone-deaf had fewer nerve fibers between the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, or in some cases the fibers couldn’t be detected at all.
The researchers reported their findings in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
“It’s a new piece in our understanding of tone-deafness and the processes that are involved in the perception of pitch in general,” said Nina Kraus of Northwestern University, who wasn’t involved in the research.
Loui said the brain connection they examined was long known to be involved in language. “Now that we know which brain pathways to train,” she said, there may be ways to help people with tone-deafness, and perhaps those with other language disorders.
I’ve just recently Netflixed The State, the comedy troupe that lead to Wet Hot American Summer, Reno 911!, Stella, and Michael & Michael Have Issues. The show isn’t as funny as Reno or Wet Hot but it has it’s moments and it’s also fun to watch all the faces you see now when they were younger. The clip below features Michael Ian Black and Thomas Lennon dancing around pudding.
From E!
For all of you torrent junkies, the guy who archived all of the trackers on TPB has put up a replica of the beloved Pirate Bay website.
This post is from Mark Cuban’s blog from Aug 19th 2009 10:11PM:
Do your friends cover their ears when you sing along with the radio? Does the choir director ask you to lip-sync?