Cocaine Cuts and Adulterants: What Is Actually in Your Bag

Street Cocaine Is Rarely Pure

Most cocaine sold on the street is between 30 and 60 percent pure. The rest is cut, and the cuts are not all harmless filler.

Knowing what common cuts are, and what they do, is part of testing safely. A cut can be more dangerous than the cocaine itself.

The Most Common Cuts

Levamisole is a veterinary dewormer that became a common cocaine cut. It can cause a serious condition that damages blood vessels and skin, and in some cases can be fatal.

Lidocaine and benzocaine are numbing agents. They are used because they mimic the numbing feel of real cocaine. They are not inert. In high doses they can affect the heart.

Caffeine is a cheap stimulant added to stretch the product. It raises heart rate on top of the cocaine.

Creatine and mannitol are relatively harmless fillers, but they mean you are paying for something that is not cocaine.

How to Test for Cuts

A standard reagent test tells you if cocaine is present. It does not tell you what the cut is.

A purity test gives you a rough idea of how much cocaine is actually there. If a bag tests at 40 percent purity, the other 60 percent is something else.

For specific cuts like levamisole, there are dedicated tests available. Most people do not run them, but if you use cocaine regularly, they are worth knowing about.

The Order That Keeps You Safe

1. Fentanyl strip first. Fentanyl contamination in cocaine is real, and it kills
2. Reagent test second. Confirm it is actually cocaine
3. Purity test third. Get a rough sense of how cut it is

That order matters. See our cocaine purity test guide for the purity step in detail.

What a Cut Means in Practice

A cut means the dose is less predictable. If your bag is 40 percent instead of 80 percent, you need more of it to feel the same effect, which means you are also taking more of whatever the cut is.

Start low. You cannot dose precisely on an unknown mixture.

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