This paper explores the nature of drug adulteration and dilution (‘cutting1’) practices relating to illicit drugs and heroin in particular in the US in the 1990's. The conventional model which assumes that the cutting of drugs takes place down through the chain of distribution is no longer applicable to the drugs trade in the US. In recent years the purity of heroin available in the US has risen tenfold and its availability increased. Changes in adulteration/dilution practices have accompanied this shift. New data shows that rather than adulteration being systematic and predictable it is in fact unsystematic and likely to be undertaken by a minority of those involved in its distribution for a whole variety of reasons. Evidence is also presented which suggests that the majority of adulteration/dilution is carried out prior to importation and that this is with comparatively harmless substances.
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