Anthrax outbreak in Scotland kills 6 drug addicts

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Sacramento Bee

Contaminated heroin may have caused an anthrax outbreak among drug addicts in Scotland, killing six people and infecting 12 in total, health officials said Thursday.

All of the people stricken with the bacterial disease were believed to be heroin users, said a spokesman at Scotland's Health Protection Agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. The agency said other cases were under investigation, but would not specify how many.

Experts say contaminated heroin or another powder-like substance used to dilute the drug may have spread the disease. Scottish officials warned that further cases might be detected beyond Glasgow, where 4 deaths have occurred. Another 2 people died near Dundee and Forth Valley.

Anthrax is an animal disease and regularly infects people in Africa and Asia, as well as parts of southern Europe. It can be treated with antibiotics if caught early, and does not usually spread from person to person. Left untreated, anthrax can be fatal.


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/832/story/2444485.html

[kerrywins]

1. Call me names, but i smell false flag

and I smell more government intrusion coming for the people of Scotland.

[Rebubula]

2. No names...

...but please elaborate.


My first thought was of a book called Phoenix Rising by Kyle Mills. Not too well written, but an interesting and scary idea. It tells the tale of someone spiking the US drug supply with a deadly toxin.

[kerrywins]

7. Dr. Strangelove was about

a conspiracy of the Russians spiking the US water supply with sodium fluoride....

well, we don't have to look to the Russians for that, nowadays the US admits to adding it to our water.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. I think you may have misread that...

[kerrywins]

35. no,

there is a conspiracy in the movie about the communist fluoridating the US water supply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. No.

The point is that there isn't a conspiracy to fluoridate water, it's that Ripper is completely insane.

[kerrywins]

37. I see, I guess my main point is

forced medication of sodium fluoride by our own government is absolutely ridiculous.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. I guess the main point of Dr. Strangelove is...

people who believe that are insane, in a comedic fashion.

[kerrywins]

40. I'm sure some people find it funny

but sodium fluoride is very toxic and being forced medicated by your government is not very funny.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

42. LOL

They're trying to sap our precious bodily fluids.

[dionysus]

43. jesus, just when you think you've seen it all... how is it you draw these people to you?

:rofl:

[Theobald]

38. No Dr. Strangelove was not about a conspiracy of the Russians

to florinate the water, Dr. Strangelove was about a US General with the paranoid belief that there was a communist conspiracy involving floridation of water which would lead to the contamination of everybody's "precious bodily fluids." Floridation of the water doesn't contanimate everybody's 'precious' bodily fluids, the point was the general was paranoid and the threat did not exist.

[Wizard777]

4. Not at all I've been expecting this. America is next.

I've been saying since 9/11 that drug users are the weak link in our security chain. The government is leaving them vulnerable to foreign illicit drug suppliers. That it would only be a matter of time before Middle Eastern terrorists formed an alliance with South American Drug producers. At that point they would begin to infect American drug supplies with Bio Toxins. It would be the easiest way for them to convert millions of American drug users into walking bio bombs. Legalizing all drugs is now a matter of national security. We can't stop them from using. But we can provide them with a safe supply. Hell if every opiate user in america quit right now. Our medical resources would be strained to the point of collapse. Hell Baltimore city has a population of 650,000 and 60,000 heroin users. That's just heroin users. Crack and cocaine could also be infected with bio toxin. Many weaponized bio toxins can survive thousands of degrees produced by an exploding bomb. I'm quite sure it will also survive the hundreds of degrees produced by a cigarette lighter. I recomend Immediate legalization and full scale harm reduction. We really need to deal with the drug problem in an open and helpful fashion regardless of the decision the user makes. If they want to continue to use. Fine, here's a safe supply. The alternative could be an epidemic.

[Socal31]

6. Everytime someone repeats the "false flag" assumption.....

I die a little inside.

[dionysus]

44. everything is a conspiracy!!11!!11!!1!!1

[Warpy]

3. This is another reason to end the damned drug war

Just legalize it, make it safe, predictable and cheaper than the black market garbage that can be mixed with anything from cement dust to Drano, lower crime, save lives, and bust the drug gangs by taking their source of revenue away.

This is not working. Continuing failed policy is clearly insane.

[WriteDown]

8. Making heroin kid-friendly would be a great start.

Would help with naps and teething for sure.

[Flaneur]

10. Don't be such an ass.

Did anyone say anything about making heroin available to kids--other than yourself?

By the way, the black market doesn't care how old you are. That's why teens can find pot easier than they can find alcohol.

[Flaneur]

12. On edit: Delete, wrong place.

[WriteDown]

15. Who should heroin be available for? nt

[Flaneur]

17. Grown ups. How about if it were peddled by corporations?

[WriteDown]

19. Grown ups can handle heroin?

In what situation?

Also, how would you test someone for heroin DUI's since they are bound to increase with availability? Breathylyzer?

[Flaneur]

22. This may come as a shock to you, but MOST heroin users are not junkies.

Junkies get all the attention because they cause the most problems. As with any other drug--with the notable exception of nicotine--only a fraction, say 10% to 20%, develop dependency.

Heroin is just another opiate. Like Oxycontin or Vicodin. It's not some radioactive substance.

As for testing, my standard reply is test for impairment, not metabolites. Can the driver pass a field sobriety test? Or, I suppose you could do a blood or urine test with some non-zero level of allowable opiate metabolites.

[WriteDown]

23. So we should make oxy and vicodin available OTC too right?

And ketamine and rohypnol as well? Please link to the percentage of functioning recreational heroin users.

Field sobriety tests rarely hold up in court and often the police are forbidden from taking bodily fluids unless you are charged with vehicular manslaughter.

Also, I suppose we'd have to eliminate drug tests in the workplace.

[Flaneur]

25. Yes. We used to do it that way. It actually worked out better than prohibition has.

Field sobriety tests don't hold up in court? Really?

I addressed below your question about recreational users below. Four million in the US have used heroin, 200,000 are past-month users.

As for drug testing: Test for impairment, not metabolites. Employers drug test because they fear impaired workers will not be productive or injury themselves. People are impaired for various reasons--lack of sleep, anger, being drunk or high, medical conditions--test for impairment. If you're not impaired, I don't care what's in your urine.

[WriteDown]

26. No...

When did it work out better? Back when we had opium dens?

Any lawyer will get a field sobriety test thrown out if its not backed up by chemical or physical evidence.

I asked for stats on how many are functioning today(ie no ill or long lasting side effects). Please link to those.

So as long as you seem fine, then you can fly a plane. Drive a school bus, etc? That would be great for me because I can really handle my buzz.

As an aside, I lost a friend to heroin when I was a senior in HS many years ago. She didn't die. She was just lost.

[Flaneur]

27. Yes, back then.

On field tests: Sorry, I can't buy what you claim. You're telling me that a police dash-board camera recording of a guy staggering around and slurring his words isn't going to win a DWI conviction?

I don't know what to tell you about how many non-addict heroin users there are. All I can do is point you to SAMHSA and its National Drug Use and Health surveys--http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduhLatest.htm. That's where I got my numbers. We have about 20 times the number of life-time users than we do past-month users. That means there are a lot of people who have used heroin who are not now junkies, and even past-month users aren't necessarily junkies. I am aware of recreational heroin use among the collegiate crowd, for instance.

If you are not impaired, you are fine to drive a bus or plane. Subjective feelings of "I can handle my buzz" don't count.

I, too, have known people who have fucked up their lives on drugs, and even more on alcohol. Making drugs illegal didn't stop them, but it does cause all sorts of other negative consequences, for both drug users and society at large.

[Flaneur]

28. Would love to continue this discussion, but I have work to do.

And I'm not too impaired to do it. Later.

[WriteDown]

30. We'll pick it put later.

Always good talking to you. Later man.

[dionysus]

45. OTC vics would be fine my me...

[WriteDown]

47. House? nt

[dionysus]

49. .

[LeftyMom]

34. Trolls. nt

[Warpy]

11. I doubt the counter guy at the Wallgreen's pharmacy

would sell to teething toddlers.

Besides, cigarettes work, too.

The drug war hasn't worked at all. What would you suggest, or are you just here to snark?

[WriteDown]

16. Who should he sell to?

:shrug:

[bitchkitty]

18. Silly argument.

What makes me or anyone else responsible for your parenting? I really hate that "what about the CHILDREN" mantra.

[WriteDown]

20. I'm just wondering who recreational heroin use is suitable for...

:shrug:

[Flaneur]

24. Apparently quite a few people. According to SAMHSA...

about 4 million people in the US have tried heroin, with about 200,000 being current past-month users.

[bitchkitty]

31. I wouldn't know - people worn out by raising kids?

Seriously, though - cigarettes are not sold to children. When teens try to bum cigarettes from me at the train station, I tell them to piss off. If they tried to get me to buy them alcohol, I would tell them to piss off.

Telling them to piss off is my only contribution to their upbringing. The rest is up to their parents.

[WriteDown]

46. The consequences of hacking on a few cigs and taking a few...

hits of heroin are a tad different.

[bitchkitty]

48. The legal consequences, obviously.

But the physical consequences - a couple of hits of smack would be less harmful to your body than smoking cigarettes. If you're shooting heroin a few times a day, obviously that's different.

But even then - a doctor once told me that it's not the heroin that makes junkies sick - it's the dirty needles, and the fact that they generally don't take care of themselves with exercise, proper diet, etc.

But I digress...

[kerrywins]

41. paint thinner could kill your kid, whats to stop them from using it?

Parents....


I don't know about you, but I don't like having freedoms taken away some some drug lords can make alot of money.....

[kerrywins]

9. You know who doesn't want the drug war ended?

the drug lords.

and I would guess that they would kill anyone who tried to legalize drugs.

[juno jones]

5. Right up there with the wormer that

causes immune system breakdown in cocaine.

Anthrax and vetrinary drugs are pretty esoteric compared with what has reporetedly cut street drugs in the past. Given the supposed black ops distribution routes of both coke and heroin, I wonder how they got there.

Legalize.

PS: My husband was joking around with a friend in a bar about coke. At one point he said, "I don't even know what it goes for now."
Someone told him. In these parts it's $50 a gram. That's $50 or more less than what it was back in the eighties when I knew of such things. So, more people are affording a drug that according to current news is somewhere around 60-70% adulterated with a seriously disabling substance. Call it tinfoil, but it doesn't look good from here.

[Flaneur]

13. No quality control in a black market. But no biggie--it's only drug users.

[formercia]

14. They should have watched Trainspotting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_(film)

Want to keep your kids from IV drugs? Make them watch it.

[WriteDown]

21. Great film.

The seen with the baby is chilling.

[IcyPeas]

29. Anthrax primarily comes from sheep and cattle

Do you know how many sheep are in Scotland? and cattle? this could have been an accident, as stated in the article and the heroin may have been processed somewhere near contaminated animal carcases.
It just might not be a conspiracy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. There are plenty of sheep and cattle, but contamination in the source country is more likely

Gordon Meldrum, director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said the spate of deaths was disturbing. "Illegal drugs are often prepared in unhygienic surroundings and can be vulnerable to contamination from various harmful agents.It is highly probable that the contamination of heroin by anthrax is accidental and there is a history of batches of heroin being contaminated in Afghanistan, Turkey and other countries key to the production and supply of heroin.

"Production processes can be basic and often be conducted in areas where there is contamination from animal carcasses or faeces. Our priority remains to reduce the harm to drug users and the communities they live in and all cases will be investigated and reported where appropriate to the procurator fiscal."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/07/heroin-anthrax-kills-addicts-scotland

Rural Scotland isn't exactly a centre for drug preparation; and the chances of accidental contamination in the big cities like Glasgow or Edinburgh are pretty small. But if the heroin is prepared in some out-of-the-way bit of country in the chain from field to street, it's more likely to come across anthrax spores.