PURITY OF COCAINE SEIZED IN SPAIN, 1985-1993 - VARIATIONS BY WEIGHT, PROVINCE AND YEAR OF SEIZURE

We selected 9681 samples of cocaine seized in 16 Spanish provinces bet ween 1985 and 1993 and studied the variations in purity by weight and province of seizure. Temporal variations in purity were also studied f or samples from four provinces and the presence of adulterants for a s ubset of samples from two provinces. Large variations in purity were o bserved in all strata resulting from crossing the variables weight, pr ovince and year. In some provinces. bur not in others, we observed a d ecline in median purity and increasing variation in purity with decrea sing sample weight. These results suggest that the median purity of st reet cocaine (samples weighing less than 5 g) in Spain increased betwe en 1985 and 1993, ranging between 45% and 65% in most provinces at the end of this period. At the same time, variations in purity declined. At the end of the period lidocaine, which was the most frequent adulte rant at the beginning, had almost disappeared from samples from Madrid and Seville, and caffeine was practically the only adulterant detecte d. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.