title: Analysis of 683 drug packages seized from "body stuffers".
abstract: The wrappings and contents of 683 drug containers (bubbles) seized from 154 street dealers have been analysed since 2001, when the law enforcement policy in Hamburg, Germany, allowed the application of emetics to be used by so-called body stuffers for the recovery of swallowed drug packages. Of the bubbles recovered 96% contained cocaine. Cases of intoxication have not yet been observed but a 20-year-old man with a previously unknown toxic cardiomyopathy died 3 days after a sudden cardiac arrest which followed the forced application of ipecacuanha via correctly placed nasogastral tube.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Butenfeld 34, Hamburg 22529, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Püschel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stobbe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinemann
mesh_terms: D003042:Cocaine; D003415:Crime; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D004349:Drug Packaging; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000473:pathology*; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D013270:Stomach; D014195:Travel
chemical_list: D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D003042:Cocaine