A new method of packaging cocaine for international traffic and implications for the management of cocaine body packers.

Clinical outcome of cocaine body packers is considered to be unpredictable and there are no clear guidelines for the management of these patients. Their surveillance in casualty wards, where they are usually admitted during evacuation of the packets, can be very difficult. The authors refer to a new type of cocaine packet, allowing these patients to be managed with a more conservative approach than in the past, and report their experience with 161 body packers, observed from January 1999 to December 2000.