Plaster, bleach, psychotropics: how drug dealers are poisoning cocaine in Morocco

The hearings following this crackdown have revealed an absolute cynicism. According to the daily Al Akhbar, one of the arrested barons detailed his macabre "recipe" to increase volumes at lower cost: a mixture of flour and bleach, heated and then dried, before being incorporated into the drug. The trap is deadly: this corrosive mixture causes immediate nosebleeds, a side effect that naive consumers wrongly interpret as a guarantee of the strength and purity of the product.

This adulteration allows traffickers to sell their adulterated goods at a luxury price, close to 1,000 dirhams per gram. But for the customer, the bill can be fatal. Investigators warn of the major health risks associated with the ingestion of these chemical agents, ranging from stroke to heart attack, as well as carcinogenic risks.

The morbid imagination of the dealers does not stop there. Other suspects have admitted to using construction plaster, whose whiteness is deceptive, as well as painkillers or heavy psychotropic drugs intended for mental disorders. A chemical Russian roulette motivated solely by the lure of profit, with total disregard for the lives of users.