Tror nu ikke at det kan gøre dig impotent Men jeg kan da anbefale dig at skaffe et merskumshoved, for sølvpapirshoveder er da noget crab!

Yes, definately beware of smoking off tinfoil, this includes tinfoil conepieces etc. Basically, smoking ANYTHING off metal of any kind is bad for you, but aluminium foil seems to be the worst.

CANADA - While not conclusive, a possible link between smoking heroin and a brain disease known as leucoencephalopathy has a Kelowna neurologist warning local users to be careful.

“At this point, it’s only an association but at least they should be aware of it,” said Dr. Barry Jones.

“If that causes them to mend their ways, so much the better.”

Jones said there is currently a patient in Kelowna General Hospital suspected of having the condition.

That patient is one of 19 reported since 2002, including 15 this year.

Most of the cases are confined to the Lower Mainland but have shown up in people from 19 to 51 from within various racial groups.

Almost 50 per cent of those patients have died from the condition and Jones said the prognosis for recovery for the Kelowna patient is low.

Smoking heroin from tinfoil is a practice known as chasing the dragon.

“Leucoencephalopathy has only been diagnosed in people who sniff the fumes,” said Jones.

“We haven’t seen it in IV drug users.”

What’s not known is whether the disease has been caused by the burning tinfoil or adulterants within the heroin itself.

“That’s the big question they’re trying to answer,” said Jones.

“This connection has only been recognized in the last couple of years.”

Health officials in the Lower Mainland are working with the Vancouver Police Department to try to obtain samples of the heroin smoked by the victims there so chemical analysis can be conducted on it.

Jones said he plans to talk to the patient and family of the local victim to see if it’s possible to obtain a heroin sample which would be sent to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

“It might help them be able to put two and two together,” Jones added.

Leucoencephalopathy causes victims to lose their sense of balance, and have difficulty speaking plus muscle weakness.

Victims may also behave inappropriately or be unaware of their surroundings.

The provincial medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall issued a province-wide alert to all neurologists last Friday about a connection between leucoencephalopathy and heroin use.

Kendall urged doctors to notify Dr. Lorne Clearsky, a community medicine resident at the University of British Columbia, if they suspect one of their patients may have the condition.

By John McDonald, staff reporter