title: Adulterants encountered in the illicit cocaine market.
abstract: Illicit cocaine samples (156), seized on Rome's illegal market between January 1996 and June 1997, were examined. Both the purity of the cocaine and the presence of substances employed for dilution were determined for each sample. Adulterants were found in many of the street samples analysed. Lidocaine (average 14.7%) followed by caffeine (average 9%) proved to be the adulterants most frequently encountered in the cocaine samples.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fucci
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: De Giovanni
mesh_terms: D002110:Caffeine / Q000032:analysis; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000032:analysis*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000737:chemistry*; D004340:Drug Contamination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000737:chemistry*; D008012:Lidocaine / Q000032:analysis; D012384:Rome
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D002110:Caffeine; D008012:Lidocaine; D003042:Cocaine