They pay for the plasma because of the bit of extra time/discomfort while the plasma is isolated, and the rest cycled back to the donor. If not for that, plasma would be free also.Inverse Skies said:I actually thought the US paid for both, but now I know better. You'd think they'd bar crack users from the clinic? Because surely they couldn't use their plasma because of the drugs present in their system?Bofus Teefus said:Then that made no sense at all. In the US, giving whole blood is free. When you give plasma, though, you get paid a small amount, though I'm not sure about how much. The result is that at plasma donation centers, you have a lot of addicts donating to support their habit, hence the crack joke. There's something seriously wrong with this system.
Disclaimer- I'm sure they aren't all addicts, but there are enough to support the stereotype.
They definitely screen for IV drugs and viruses associated with those (hepatitis, HIV etc) but I'm not sure about regular drugs.Bofus Teefus said:They pay for the plasma because of the bit of extra time/discomfort while the plasma is isolated, and the rest cycled back to the donor. If not for that, plasma would be free also.
I'm sure that there is a screening question, and that IV drug users are truly blocked from donating due to infection risk.
"Are you a crackhead?"
"Nah, I aint never smoke crackcrackcrack in my life!"
"OK, sign here."
I'm going to have to look up how plasma is processed now. I'm curious as to how well plasma-bound drugs are removed.
Here's what I didn't need to look up- the liver (as well as kidney and other metabolic centers) can only process unbound drugs. When it takes in unbound drug, some bound drug becomes unbound, giving the logarithmic nature of drug metabolism (and the half-life term.)Inverse Skies said:They definitely screen for IV drugs and viruses associated with those (hepatitis, HIV etc) but I'm not sure about regular drugs.Bofus Teefus said:I'm sure that there is a screening question, and that IV drug users are truly blocked from donating due to infection risk.
I'm going to have to look up how plasma is processed now. I'm curious as to how well plasma-bound drugs are removed.
I wouldn't have thought plasma bound drugs could be removed - in your body thats what the liver is for.
Walk up to them and say "do you want my handicap card"? If they say yes, raise the cane and say "bend over".MaxTheReaper said:I am not an asshole.
I'm a smartass.
There's a difference, I swear! *sob*
I did end up threatening people with my cane a lot.
Still I wonder what you'd do to it... you couldn't saponify it, because that would wreck all the proteins.. maybe centrifuge it again to remove seleceted weight proteins? Or treat it with chemicals? That's all I can think of.Bofus Teefus said:Here's what I didn't need to look up- the liver (as well as kidney and other metabolic centers) can only process unbound drugs. When it takes in unbound drug, some bound drug becomes unbound, giving the logarithmic nature of drug metabolism (and the half-life term.)
I couldn't quickly find how plasma is processed once it's donated (no real surprise there), but it isn't really that hard to get plasma to release drugs. I did find that drug use does not disqualify someone from donating, which suggests that there is some processing after donation.