# Do detectives really take a tiny taste-test of heroin or coke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769 "2010-07-23T21:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/21 "2017-05-16T15:14:48Z")
[News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officer-nearly-dies-fentanyl-overdose-traffic-stop-ohio/) imitates the Dope- “Officer nearly dies from fentanyl overdose after traffic stop”. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/22 "2017-05-16T15:47:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > This was the subject of a [Straight Dope article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1195/why-are-cocaine-and-heroin-sometimes-cut-with-strychnine-or-arsenic). > > The answer was that it’s extremely rare to find drugs laced with such poisons. As you suggest, dealers don’t want to kill their customers. Cecil guessed that on those rare occasions that it was done, the dealer was just looking to bulk up their supply with anything cheap that looked close enough to the real thing that it would pass an examination. > > Frankly, I personally think it’s not that odd. If a dealer really wanted a healthy customer base they’d be selling vitamins and fresh vegetables, not coke and heroine. Dead customers are already a part of your business. And you might get away with blaming deaths on the customers overdosing. I remember reading an article long ago about food adulteration. They mentioned that tavern owners would water down alcohol, but then add small amounts of a poison that induced vomiting - if the customer started throwing up, after quite a few drinks, he would think “wow, this is strong stuff”. Not sure if some injectable adulterants would have similar interesting properties. IIRC strychnine induces some sort of lively response. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/23 "2017-05-16T20:23:45Z")
An ex-addict once told me that he cut the drugs himself. He believed that the adulterants slowed the absorbtion into the body, and made the high last longer. ---
**Author:** ![Pilgrim\_Shadow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Pilgrim\_Shadow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pilgrim_Shadow)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/24 "2017-05-16T21:35:11Z")
This Hollywood image of the cop testing the dope on the tip of his tongue? Where did filmmakers get the idea? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/25 "2017-05-16T21:51:51Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > This was the subject of a [Straight Dope article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1195/why-are-cocaine-and-heroin-sometimes-cut-with-strychnine-or-arsenic). > > The answer was that it’s extremely rare to find drugs laced with such poisons. As you suggest, dealers don’t want to kill their customers. Cecil guessed that on those rare occasions that it was done, the dealer was just looking to bulk up their supply with anything cheap that looked close enough to the real thing that it would pass an examination. > > Frankly, I personally think it’s not that odd. If a dealer really wanted a healthy customer base they’d be selling vitamins and fresh vegetables, not coke and heroine. Dead customers are already a part of your business. And you might get away with blaming deaths on the customers overdosing. It’s not so much that dealers would cut rat poison or whatever into their stuff, it’s that the perp might actually just be an exterminator measuring out rat poison (or some such) instead of a drug dealer. Ok, I don’t know what exterminators do, but the point is that the perp might not be a drug dealer and is handling stuff for whatever reason that looks like drugs but isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/26 "2017-05-16T22:31:09Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > It’s not so much that dealers would cut rat poison or whatever into their stuff, it’s that the perp might actually just be an exterminator measuring out rat poison (or some such) instead of a drug dealer. Ok, I don’t know what exterminators do, but the point is that the perp might not be a drug dealer and is handling stuff for whatever reason that looks like drugs but isn’t. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/27 "2017-05-17T18:39:38Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > [News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/officer-nearly-dies-fentanyl-overdose-traffic-stop-ohio/) imitates the Dope- “Officer nearly dies from fentanyl overdose after traffic stop”. The same incident that **Leo** linked to in post #9. It’s just a different report. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769/28 "2017-05-17T18:52:44Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I remember reading an article long ago about food adulteration. They mentioned that tavern owners would water down alcohol, but then add small amounts of a poison that induced vomiting - if the customer started throwing up, after quite a few drinks, he would think “wow, this is strong stuff”. Not sure if some injectable adulterants would have similar interesting properties. IIRC strychnine induces some sort of lively response. Interestingly, the adulterant I read about (in a Toronto Star Magazine article about 1970) was called “nux vomica”. There is a tree called the “Strychnos nux-vomica” tree from southern India, and it’s a source of … wait for it … strychnine. Hmmm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-detectives-really-take-a-tiny-taste-test-of-heroin-or-coke/547769.md?page=1)