Lacing or cutting, in drug culture, refer to the act of using a substance (referred to as the lacing agent or cutting agent) to adulterate substances independent of the reason. The resulting substance is laced or cut. Some street drugs are commonly laced with other chemicals for various reasons, but it is most commonly done to bulk up the original product or to sell other, cheaper drugs in the place of something more expensive. Individuals sometimes lace their own drugs with another substance to combine or alter the physiological or psychoactive effects.
Overview The classical model of drug cutting refers to the way that illicit drugs were diluted at each stage of the chain of distribution. Drug markets have changed considerably since the 1980s; greater competition, and a shift from highly structured (and thus controlled) to greatly fragmented markets, has generated competition among dealers in terms of purity. Many drugs that reach the street are now only cut at the manufacture/producer stage, and this may be more a matter of lacing the drug with another substance designed to appeal to the consumer, as opposed to simple diluents that increase the profit for the seller. The extent of cutting can vary significantly over time but for the last 15 years drugs such as cocaine ranged in Europe on average from 32% to 65% in purity. Heroin purity at 50% does not signify 50% cutting agents; other adulterants could include other opiate by-products of making heroin from opium. Furthermore heroin base can only have a max purity of 61% while heroin HCl can be up to 98% pure. Coomber, after having street heroin seizures from the UK re-analysed, reported that nearly 50% of the samples had no cutting agents present at all. This means that 50% of street heroin in the UK in 1995 had worked its way from producer to user without being cut at any stage, although other adulterants may have been present. Other research outlined how drug dealers have other ways of making profit without having to resort to cutting the drugs they sell. Cocaine has been cut with various substances ranging from flour and powdered milk to ground drywall, mannitol, baking soda, and other common, easily obtainable substances. Levamisole and other PTHIT substances also remain in frequent use as cutting agent. Most illicit drugs are adulterated to some degree. Some street drugs can be as low as 10–15% of the active drug, with the other (85–90%) not necessarily being the cutting agent. In fact a heroin sample of only 20% purity may have no cutting agents in it at all. The other 80% may be impurities produced in the manufacturing process and substances created as by products of this process and/or degradation of the drug if improperly stored. When choosing a cutting agent, the drug manufacturer or dealer would ideally attempt to find a chemical that is inexpensive, easy to obtain, relatively non-toxic, and mimics the physical attributes of the drug to be adulterated. For example, if a drug is soluble in water, the preferred adulterant would also be water-soluble. Similar melting and boiling points are also important if the drug is to be smoked.
Types of lacing agents
Non-psychoactive lacing agents
Visually mimics Some fake drugs consist of substances from relatively harmless sources, such as grocery store goods like flour, oregano or allergy pills. Even despite the substances' harmlessness, legal penalties for the crime of selling them can include time in jail.
Flavor masker
Sometimes a flavor masker is added to give a more pleasant experience.
Psychoactive mimics Lacing/cutting agents may be psychoactive. Certain fake drugs include other controlled drugs, or they may include synthetic drugs with similar properties. Uncertainty of an identity of the substance may increase the risk of an overdose. A related, yet distinct problem is the trade of counterfeit medications with pills including substances such as fentanyl which can be used recreationally.
Levamisole Levamisole is frequently used to cut cocaine. In the body, levamisole is converted into aminorex, a substance with amphetamine-like stimulant effects and a long duration of action. Despite yielding these desired stimulant effects as a psychoactive mimic, levamisole is also associated with levamisole-induced necrosis syndrome.
Reasons for lacing
Illegal drug trade
Drugs may be sold to end users who are unaware they have been laced or are unaware what was used to lace them. At various points in the supply chain, in order to maximize profitability, many drugs are adulterated with cutting agents. Substances with similar physical and/or chemical properties can be used so the end product most closely resembles what it is purported to be. Inert substances with similar physical properties can be used to increase weight without changing the look and feel. Less expensive or easier to obtain compounds with similar chemical properties may be used to lace heavily adulterated drugs while still maintaining some psychoactive potency.
Mickey Finn
In slang, a Mickey Finn—or simply a Mickey—is a drink laced with a psychoactive drug or incapacitating agent (especially chloral hydrate) given to someone without their knowledge, with intent to incapacitate them.
Poly drug use
Drugs may also be laced with the end user being made aware of the lacing. In this case, rather than as an adulteration, the lacing is intended to make the product more desirable. Sometimes less potent, often less expensive drugs, are laced with a small amount of a more potent, often more expensive drug. This may be used to facilitate the ingestion of drugs or to allow the simultaneous ingestion of multiple drugs. Cigarettes laced with PCP allow users to take in the liquid PCP through smoking and some multi drug users report intentionally buying marijuana laced with methamphetamine.
Commonly laced substances
Dietary supplements
CBD Cannabidiol (CBD) is often cut with synthetic cannabinoids.
Street drugs
Depressants
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