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Benzocaine: The truthThe User:SINGLE mum Julie Jones usesbenzocaine every weekend and has areckless attitude to the dangers.

The 37-year-old part-time cleaner,from Liverpool, says: "I love thefeeling. It's a bit like coke but not asstrong.

"It makes my gums and nose go numbthen makes me feel hyper, sort ofhappy.

"I can stay awake and dancing all nightsometimes.

"It makes me really talkative as well,just like a weaker version of cocaine.

"The buzz is best when having a drinkwith it. I can get through one or twograms in a night. I buy it off a guy whosells me three grams for about £40. Heuses it as well but dabs it on his gumsrather than snorting it.

"I've been taking benzo for six years intotal now but it's increased recently. Ilike the fact it isn't illegal. It makes mefeel better about what I'm taking. I'mnoticing far more people on it thesedays.

"It's popular with people who don'twant to get on drugs which might becut with cr*p.

"I know it won't actually be good for mebut it's got to be less damaging thannormal coke. I mean, what isn't bad foryou these days?"

The Dealers:

New menace ... benzocaine

Numb anddumberPublished: 08 Sep 2010

By NICK FRANCIS

A DENTAL anaesthetic which can cause the heart tostop is being used by youngsters as a terrifyingnew legal high.

Britain's towns and cities are being flooded withbenzocaine, a white powder bought easily on the internetand producing a similar effect to cocaine.

The white powder is often snorted just like coke — but nowa Sun investigation can reveal that dealers are turning itinto brack, a substitute for crack, the crystallised rockversion of cocaine.

Benzocaine — known as benzo — is used in the UK as adental anaesthetic and as an ingredient in first-aidointments, throat sprays and sunburn remedies.

It is even used in condoms to help prevent prematureejaculation.

But it also has similar effects to cocaine, numbing thegums and nose, and gives a similar high, although weaker.

Now there are fears that it will become as widespread asmeow meow, which was banned in April after a Suncampaign.

It is only illegal to sell benzocaine if the authorities canprove that the suppliers know it is being used in blackmarket drug activity.

For years it has been the cutting agent of choice forgreedy coke dealers, who mix it to make the class A druggo further.

Today, nearly 40 per cent of coke bought on the street isless than nine per cent pure.

The UK has the highest rates of cocaine abuse in Europeand, according to Home Office statistics, up to 365,000people 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 toproduce.

By selling brack — the benzocaine version — the profitmargin for dealers is up to 10,000 per cent.

And because it is readily available online — imported fromChina and the Far East — they feel they are operatingwithin the law, although selling it for recreational use ishighly illegal.

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Sun investigation finds benzocaine is the latest terrifying... http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/312972...

1 of 4 12/01/2011 02:08 AM

THE SUN spoke to one shamelessdealer who buys benzocaine to turninto brack and makes big profitsconning users into thinking it is crack.

He told us: "It looks and burns likecrack. It gives you a strong buzz. Notas much of a hit as crack but goodenough so punters can't tell.

"It's ridiculously profitable because itdoesn't contain cocaine, which is a lotof money. Dealers used to add a littlebit of cocaine to make it better butpeople just serve up pure benzo rocksnow.

"It's like putting a glass diamond infront of you – you can't tell thedifference."

The dealer, from the North East, whorefused to reveal his identity, added:"There are teenagers in gangs whouse benzo-crack to get going thensmoke skunk to come down.

"The lads bringing in benzo are makingmore money than cocaine smugglers."You can import 25-kilo barrels for£2,000 each and sell it on to theunderworld for £10,000 a barrel.

"They use industrial compressors,catering blenders and even car jacksto compress it back to crystalline formso that it even looks like freshlyimported cocaine."

The Doctor:SUN Doctor Carol Cooper says:"Benzocaine is similar to cocaine.While it is an anaesthetic, it doesn'tsend you to sleep.

"It is an upper and it has unpredictableeffects. It makes you excited, talkative,over-active and twitchy.

"My main worry is its effect on theheart. It can make your heart beat veryirregularly and can even cause it tostop.

"A lot of people who are taking cokeare not taking the pure stuff, so theyprobably think they can take hugeamounts of it. But in reality much ofwhat they are snorting could be bakingsoda.

"If someone who takes coke regularlygoes on to use something such asbenzocaine — which can come in amuch purer form — they run the risk ofhaving a serious, possibly fatalreaction.

"Just because benzocaine is legal, itcertainly doesn't make it a good idea."

A rock of crack costs £10 on the street but a dealer will sellbrack for £5 a rock. But it is no less dangerous.

Dr Ken Checinski, consultant psychiatrist to drugsinformation service Frank and medical director of charityAddaction, says: "We are already working on getting themessage out early to youngsters who think thatbenzocaine is a safer version or cocaine.

"It isn't. It still causes massive damage.

"The most worrying aspect is people often take more of itthan coke. The effects are weaker, although present, sothey 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 intothe 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 withyoungsters.

"It is used widely in the medical profession, which means itis easy to get hold of."

Benzocaine is bought online legitimately bypharmaceutical companies.

But the authorities are extremely concerned about theincreasing use of benzocaine to get high.

They believe it is also introducing drug-takers to coke andcrack.

An operation headed by the Serious Organised CrimeAgency (Soca) has uncovered mountains of benzocaine atports over the past few months as dealers look for biggerand bigger quantities.

In just one week in May more than two tons were found atthe port of Felixstowe in Suffolk and Stansted Airport.

The 83 barrels had a street value of £150,000 — but whensold as cocaine would have been worth £94million.

Now those caught importing vast quantities of benzocainewill have the book thrown at them, as authorities trydesperately to clamp down on the spiralling trade.

Brodie Clark, head of the UK Border Agency, said: "Withthe purity levels of street-level cocaine falling, preventingthe importation of cutting agents is becoming increasinglyimportant.

"Last month a woman was jailed for nine years after wesuccessfully proved that importing a cutting agent illegallywas tantamount to supplying cocaine.

"That landmark ruling gives us much greater scope totarget 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 benzocaineonline.

A simple Google search of "buy benzocaine" yieldedthousands of results.

One website offers 1kg of benzocaine for £200. Anotherstates: "Benzocaine is no longer importable to the UK.

"As a result, we only have limited stocks and cash ondelivery is no longer available. Please phone for our bestprice but be quick."

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Mick Matthews, Deputy Chief Constable of GloucestershirePolice and cocaine specialist for the Association of ChiefPolice Officers, says: "An individual was found to be sellingwhat could be used as cutting agents in vast quantitiesfrom his garage on a housing estate, advertising in localpapers and also on the internet.

"You cansee amassivemark-up ontheimportedsubstances.Themark-upagain fromthe cuttingagent beingadded to anillegal substance — well, that just goes through the roof.

"A kilo of cocaine has a current price of around £50,000. Ifyou double that kilo with benzocaine and you have two kilos, the dealer could then probably knock thatout 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.

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