Transcript
31/01/01
Australian firm trials ecstasy test kit
KERRY O'BRIEN: Despite being implicated in a dozen deaths, it's estimated the illegal drug ecstasy is taken by hundreds of thousands of Australians each weekend.
But ecstasy users can't be sure what they're taking.
The tablets are often manufactured in crude laboratories and laced with other chemicals.
An Australian firm is now selling a test kit aimed at ensuring that those who use ecstasy know what's inside each pill.
But there is a fear that the kit will only give ecstasy users a false sense of security, as Josephine Cafagna reports.
ANDREW, ECSTASY USER: You know, you've got E, you've got ecstasy, you've got pills, basically, ecky, bickie, disco biscuits.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: These are the slang terms for the illegal drug ecstasy.
Despite its illicit nature and the fact that 12 deaths have been associated with its use, the drug is a staple part of the dance party scene.
Some estimates put the use of ecstasy as high as 100,000 tablets consumed each weekend.
ANDREW: It's like the in thing at the moment.
So, whereas it's always been around for the last, say, you know, 12-15 years, it's only really become big now.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: Andrew is a 22-year-old computer programmer who regularly uses ecstasy.
He prefers to remain anonymous, but talks freely about why he takes the drug.
ANDREW: Well, it gets rid of your inhibitions, number one.
It creates a feeling of being loved-up.
You don't hold back with what you want to say to a person.
Basically, euphoria.
Yes, it just creates a great feeling.
CHIEF INSPECTOR PAUL DITCHBURN, VICTORIA POLICE: In the short-term, it can make people do what they normally wouldn't do and push their body beyond normal extremes.
In the long-term, there's research to indicate there can be long-term brain damage and the insidious part of that is that people don't know it's occurring.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: It's estimated 5 per cent of the population has tried ecstasy and it's favoured by females between the ages of 19 and 29.
Among that group, its use is as high as 15 per cent.
The active ingredient in ecstasy is MDMA, a form of amphetamine first marketed in the 1930s as an appetite suppressant.
While many recreational users believe MDMA is harmless, evidence shows it can be lethal.
PAUL DILLON, NATIONAL DRUG AND ALCOHOL RESEARCH CENTRE: The vast majority of things that are contained in ecstasy are relatively harmless.
Unfortunately, there are some impurities, particularly PMA, or paramethylamphetamine - which has caused a number of deaths around the country - has been identified in ecstasy tablets.
But I think what that gets away from is that MDMA in itself can be harmful.
We have had a death in Sydney that was completely related to MDMA overdose.
This is what users don't know and don't understand.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: Borrowing on what's happening in the European rave scene, a group of local E users have come up with their own harm minimisation scheme.
A testing kit, available over the Internet and at selected tobacconists.
A group called Enlighten has started setting up testing stations at large rave parties.
They test tablets for free and offer kits for sale.
JOHN DAVIDSON, ENLIGHTEN: We explain that the test indicates that a certain substance is present.
We also tell them that other substances may be present and don't come up in the test.
But generally we're telling them that this test will indicate there is an ecstasy-like substance in the pill or a speed-like substance, or some other substance.
CHIEF INSPECTOR PAUL DITCHBURN: This is an example, Josephine, of an E kit.
You'll see it contains a plastic bottle that includes an eye-dropper, a bottle of reagent, and in addition to that is a colour code, so that when a sample of the drug is taken and mixed with the reagent, depending on the colour that it goes, you get some indication of what drugs might be present.
The concern we would have is maybe some of the darker colours could mask some of the other drugs present, but our main concern is what the kits do not show.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: The test only registers the first chemical it finds, although a second E kit, called Generation 2, is coming onto the market, which can reveal up to two other substances in a tablet.
So what are you looking for when you test your pill?
ANDREW: Definitely ecstasy.
I'm looking for a result where it comes up telling me that it's ecstasy.
PAUL DILLON: I think they're potentially quite dangerous, because they really don't give the information that users are actually after - and that is, is this tablet safe or unsafe?
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: Paul Dillon has conducted extensive research on ecstasy use in Australia for the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
He believes the kits could be doing more harm than good.
PAUL DILLON: No, it doesn't necessarily identify the most toxic, the most harmful, or even the chemical that's most abundant in the tablet.
So that's one point.
I think also it gives a false sense of security to people that, because it may identify MDMA or the substance that people are actually looking for when they use an ecstasy, that that somehow implies that that tablet is safe or harmless.
And that's just incorrect.
JOHN DAVIDSON: It's all about reducing the harm by a matter of degrees.
The argument that we cannot make it entirely safe we find a bit outrageous, because everything has risks.
Should we not try and minimise the risks at all?
Because, you know, we're just trying to knock away and make, you know, one or two people safe per event.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: So you can't say that that tablet is safe to take, or unsafe?
JOHN DAVIDSON: We wouldn't want to.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: Why wouldn't you want to?
That's what I would want to know.
JOHN DAVIDSON: That's a moral judgment.
We're supplying scientific information.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: So you're satisfied that, using this kit, you will know whether that pill is safe or not?
ANDREW: Um, well, it's better than having a pill on its own, without using the kit.
JOSEPHINE CAFAGNA: Police insist the E kit is simply sending the wrong message about ecstasy.
PAUL DITCHBURN: If that little bit of knowledge gives a person a false sense of security, then it might be quite counterproductive.
Because, as I say, these kits are indicative only and it's what they don't show that is a cause for concern.
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