DEATH BY COCAINE

On 23 December 1992, a very interesting case was brought to me. A 23 year old youth was found dead in a park. The youth was identified as one Geeta who studied in a local college. The police found several wounds on her body (Please reproduce figures XX-16,17,18 on page 543 here). It was suspected that Geeta had been killed by someone. Their main reason for thinking this was the multiplicity of the so-called wounds on her body.

When the police made enquiries they found that Geeta belonged to a rich trader family. Her father had a flourishing export business. Geeta used to get a good amount of pocket money. Lately she was demanding her parents to increase her pocket money to Rs 10,000 per month. Previously she was getting only about Rs 5,000. It was found that lately she was going steady with a boy Harish, who also studied in the same college. Geeta was previously in love with another boy Ganesh, who was somewhat of a dada of his college. When Geeta switched favors, Ganesh held Harish responsible for this and told him to keep off his girl friend. He also told Geeta not to meet Harish. But neither Geeta nor Harish paid any attention to him. Once while sitting in canteen Ganesh bragged among his goons that if Geeta did not mend her ways he would finish her off.

The police immediately summoned Ganesh and held him responsible for the murder. Ganesh seemed horrified to know that Geeta had actually been killed. He admitted that he did brag about killing her, but actually he had done nothing to her. But the police wouldn't listen to him, and took him to their "torture chamber" to get the truth out of him.

It was at this stage that the case was brought to me. When I had a careful look at the body, I found that she had a strange key like thing dangling from her neck, which the police had completely ignored thinking it was an ordinary medallion usually worn by girls (reproduce fig XX-24 on page 551 here). This was not the ordinary medallion. It gave me some inkling as to the cause of her death. Then I looked closely at the hair of her nose, and as I had suspected, I found some white particles sticking there. I plucked some of those hairs with tweezers, and sent them for chemical analysis. I wanted to find out the chemical composition of those particles. Her nasal septum, the cartilage that divides the nose into two nostrils, showed a perforation. I immediately realized how she must have died. I called the investigating officer, and told him that Ganesh hadn't killed Geeta. I told him that I knew how she had died, and asked him not to torture Ganesh any more and release him at once. The police officer looked back at me in surprise and said,"But sir, you have hardly had a look at the body, let alone do an autopsy. How could you say that Ganesh has nothing to do with this death? How can you tell the cause of death in this case?"

"Well, experience my boy, experience!", I said in smug confidence, and then wrote out a cause of death, on a rough sheet of paper, and asked him to keep it in his pocket. Of course the subsequent autopsy conducted by me proved that I was right. The cause of death given by me after conducting an autopsy was the same as I had given the police officer on the rough sheet of paper immediately after seeing the body.

The readers may be surprised as to what magic I had done to find out the cause of death so quickly. Well, before going any further, let me tell you a little bit about a dangerous narcotic drug cocaine.

The youth of today is in the grips of narcotic drugs. Many narcotic drugs are in use, main among them being heroin, LSD,  amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine and several others. Heroin is  the narcotic drug of choice today, but now many users are shifting to cocaine, especially in America. Its use in India is also increasing. The use of cocaine has permeated into the powerful and socially prominent circles. It is used by the youth of rich families. Of all the drugs cocaine is considered the largest producer of illicit income in the United States today.

Cocaine is a white, crystalline powder derived from the leaves of coca plant (known botanically as Erythroxylon coca). The coca plant is native to South America, particularly the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, and must not be confused with the similar‑sounding coca plant from which chocolate is made. The scientific name of the plant is derived from the Greek word erythros meaning `red', and xylon meaning `wood'. The name is based on the flesh‑red colour of the inner layers of the bark. The wood itself is tinged with red or yellow. Although the coca plant is natural to South America, it has been successfully cultivated in Java, West Indies, Australia and India.

It's not that cocaine use has become popular in modern times only. It has been in use for a long time. Recent archaeological findings in Ecuador indicate that the use of cocaine dates back to at least 5,000 years. Small bags of coca leaves have been found in the graves of the Incas, mysterious South American people, who lived in the Cuzco Valley of the Andes mountains on the west coast of South America.  This area roughly constitutes the modern‑day Peru.

Cocaine which is used these days is usually available in adulterated form only. During its "journey" from the clandestine lab where it is prepared to the addict, it is adulterated a number of times, a practice often known as cutting. Every dealer who gets hold of the cocaine powder mixes some adulterant powder in it. The cutting or diluting agents can be any soluble powder that is not disruptive to the body such as baking soda, powdered sugar, powdered milk, starch, etc. Since pure cocaine is also a white crystalline powder, these agents can not easily be detected and serve as good dilutants. Other agents which are usually employed to cut cocaine are lactose, dextrose, Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate), quinine or powdered vitamins. A dangerous narcotic, methamphetamine, known as speed, is also sometimes used.

Cocaine use is a very expensive habit and because of the expense, cocaine habit is often referred to as the king's habit. Cocaine has traditionally been popular with pimps, prostitutes, musicians, jet‑setters and the wealthy. It can be taken by the addict in a number of ways, but the most commonly employed method is by inhalation (known as snorting or horning). In snorting cocaine, the immediate euphoric effect (known as the rush) takes place within about thirty minutes. The usual time period for euphoric effects are generally in the same range when cocaine is injected directly into a vein. When cocaine is taken by mouth, the effects begin after five minutes and the rush is not as great as when cocaine is injected or snorted. That is why oral intake of cocaine, or cocaine eating, as it is often known, is not a preferred method among the addicts.  There is a little compensation however. The euphoric effect after an oral intake lasts about fifteen to thirty minutes longer.

The rush is most intense when cocaine is injected. Snorting produces a slightly lesser effect, yet the effect is not so minor as to make injection a preferred method.

In snorting cocaine, the user brings the powdered cocaine up to one nostril, holding the other nostril closed and sniff the cocaine into the nose. The user may use any nostril but usually holds the other nostril closed for better suction. The immediate effect of snorting cocaine is a burning or freezing of the nostril area, depending on the purity of the cocaine and the substance the cocaine has been adulterated with . If it has been "cut" with procaine, there will be more of a freezing. The user may snort anywhere from one‑tenth of a gramme to half of a gramme at one time. Sometimes little particles of cocaine can get lodged in hair of the nose, and if they remain there for any length of time, they tend to irritate the membrane and cause sores and bleeding. Because of this irritation, chronic cocaine addicts usually have a perforated nasal septum. This is what I found in Geeta's dead body, and that is why I took no time in concluding that she had died of cocaine poisoning. Geeta was actually a cocaine addict. She had to buy cocaine regularly from the underworld of drug dealers. This was the reason she was pestering her parents for increasing her allowance.

Usually for snorting, the users simply put the cocaine powder on a paper or a knife blade, hold it up to the nose, close one nostril and snort. Some users, however, adopt a very elaborate ritual. For instance they use a coke spoon, purchased from head shops (illegal shops selling drugs and drug paraphernalia), which is a highly ornamental tiny spoon, to hold about 50 mg of cocaine powder. The spoon, containing the cocaine, is brought up to the nostril and then the cocaine snorted. One can often identify a cocaine addict by seeing this spoon, which is often attached to a chain and worn round the neck. Some coke spoons have two small bowls so that the cocaine can be snorted into both nostrils at the same time. This was the key like thing which I found around Geeta's body, and which had been ignored by the police as an ordinary medallion. It was actually the spoon used by her for snorting. In fact, this spoon is so characteristic of cocaine users, that just its presence was enough for me to say that Geeta was a cocaine addict.

Some addicts inject the cocaine directly into the veins or just beneath the skin. Injecting cocaine beneath the skin is commonly known as skin popping. It can cause ulcers, which often look like maps of various countries. Because of their fancied resemblance to maps, these ulcers are also known as geographical ulcers. I found these ulcers also on Geeta's dead body. Obviously Geeta was not only snorting cocaine, but injecting it too. Because of this practice, there were ulcers all over her body. These were the so-called wounds which the police was suspecting as indicative of homicide. She was probably going to the park to have her regular dose of cocaine. On the day of her death, she went to the park, and chose a lonely corner for her regular dose. First of all she snorted cocaine for some time. This was responsible for the white cocaine particles sticking to her nasal hair. Then she perhaps decided that she should inject cocaine for more intense feeling. During the procedure, she accidentally injected an overdose of cocaine. That is how she had died. It was an accidental death due to overdose of cocaine. No one had murdered her. Chemical analysis of her body organs revealed lethal doses of cocaine. Analysis of the white powder particles sticking to her nasal hair also turned out to be cocaine!

When the police told Geeta's already depressed parents that she was a cocaine addict, they couldn't believe their ears. They realized that they should not have been giving such a heavy pocket money to her. Well, this is a warning to all parents to see what their children have been doing with their pocket money. It is not surprising if the large pocket money they are demanding is for the purposes of narcotism only.

When the police released Ganesh, he came and fell on my legs. He said that his life had been saved because of me only. The poor boy did not know that it was not me, but forensic science which had saved him. I only used the science!

(To protect the identity of the individuals, their names, as well as the various dates of occurrence have been changed)