Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
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DRUG users have been given a shocking new look at how the illicit substances are manufactured in a new Vice documentary which likens a new breed of home-based producers to the “craft beer” revolution in alcohol.
It shows two young men from Brighton in the UK disguised in balaclavas and gloves in their bedroom at home with parents downstairs using a pill press bought using a fraudulent credit card online.
“It doesn’t come out of a f**king laboratory. People think it’s clean and shit,” said one as he crushes chemicals using a hammer and spills fine powder all over the floor of the room before pressing them into perfect round pills with a McDonald’s logo on them.
“I can put other things in,” he said, about the way small batches are being customised to order rather than sourced from large gangs often based in Holland. “If someone wants me to put ketamine in it, or f*** cocaine. I can print Xanax, I can print Valium.”
The stomach-turning scenes are part of a new three-part Vice documentary, High Society, by reporter Matt Shea that explores drugs in the UK where users take more in one session than any other country in the world.
Despite the number of overall people using drugs falling, drug-related deaths have reached an all-time high perhaps reflecting the strength of the drugs currently on the market and the emergence of a new ingredient — PMA.
Also known as Doctor Death, the MDMA-like substance is “significantly more toxic” than the alternative, according to drug classification website Pill Report.
“PMA has been known to cause alarming and sometimes dangerous increases in blood pressure, body temperature and heart rate at doses of 60-80 milligrams. Taking multiple pills containing PMA can quickly result in toxicity, leading to death,” it states.
The first episode of the series features a look at drug dealers on the streets of London, border force officers and the family of Gary Bass, who was killed taking a pill laced with PMA.
“We have no idea, we just cop it from someone,” says one of the dealers when asked for a best guess as to what is in the pills they are selling. “I would say 20 per cent of its cut with all sorts of shit, meths and that.”
Global Drug Survey founder Adam Winstock said there was no doubt ecstasy was becoming stronger as manufacturers competed to create a sought after pill marked with a logo that can be anything from a Snapchat logo to Red Bull, UPS or Tesla.
“I think it’s to do with new manufacturers trying to make a place in the marketplace. It’s effectively a pissing contest. People going ‘we’ve got the best pills’, and they equate, tragically, better pills to stronger pills,” he said.
The warning comes following the closure of iconic London nightclub Fabric after two drug-related deaths inside, despite a petition signed by 50,000 people including celebrities to keep it open.
In Australia, dance music festival Stereosonic was cancelled earlier this year after Sylvia Choi and Stefan Woodward died from suspected drug overdoses.
The deaths sparked calls for on-site pill testing but this has been rejected by the state governments because it may be seen as condoning drug use.
In the UK, drug awareness charity The Loop held their first ever on-site testing stall at a music festival this year where they informed one girl a drug she believed to be cocaine was actually ketamine. Other tests show baking soda, chalk and unexpected drugs showing up in what users believe is MDMA, including at least one that induced psychotic episodes.
The Loop director is adamant the group is not condoning drug use but simply “reducing drug related harm”.
The organisation recently found MDMA in the UK had more than 80 per cent purity and is advising people to make sure they crush any pills and wait a long time before taking more.
“When purity increases it takes a while for behaviours to readjust and we often see more problems. We want to keep people safe and advice as simple as ‘crush-dab-wait’ could save lives.”
Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...s/news-story/c7e7110b9e1d12efd97a2fb8bc3f000c