Coagulation Defects after I.V. Kaolin

Abstract

To the Editor: Some of the catastrophic effects that occur when drug abusers inject narcotics or other psychoactive agents are probably caused by adulterants.^{1 2 3} In most cases, it is not possible to identify the adulterant.At the Denver General Hospital we recently cared for a woman in whom the intravenous injection of paregoric derived from a kaolin-containing medication was followed by disseminated intravascular coagulation with encephalopathy and severe bleeding. She had abused various drugs for several years. The evening before admission she injected intravenously a mixture that she had prepared by heating and straining a prescription compound containing paregoric, kaolin, . . .