VANCOUVER - A resurgence of the use of ecstasy by young Americans is being fuelled by Canadian producers smuggling the illegal designer chemical drug - which is increasingly laced with crystal meth - into the U.S., according to the White House drug czar.
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is warning Americans to be aware of a "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada."
In a news release distributed in the U.S. and Canada, Walters warned that ecstasy - a manufactured pill that triggers the feel-good brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine - is becoming popular again.
"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," Walters said in the release. And that's "alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United States."
He said ecstasy usage rose in the 1990s in the rave culture, where users took the "hug drug" and danced for hours, but its use dropped in the early 2000s.
But a recent 40 per cent spike in use between 2005 and 2006, with one-third of users being under 18, worries Walters.
"These increases coincide with increased trafficking of ecstasy from Canada," said his office.
The number of ecstasy pills seized at the Canada-U.S. border grew tenfold in three years, to 5.5 million in 2006 from 570,000 in 2003, it said.
A spokesman from the office, who spoke on condition he wouldn't be identified, said there is virtually no ecstasy produced in the U.S., possibly because of more stringent controls over the importation of the ingredients needed to produce the pills.
He said the pills before 2003 were imported largely from the Netherlands and Belgium, but Canada has become a new "target country."
"We thought we kind of had this problem licked" through stepped up law enforcement and education programs that highlight the dangers, such as damage to the brain and other organs and even death.
Cpl. Richard De Jong, of the RCMP's drug and organized crime squad, said the RCMP shares the U.S. officials' concern about the increased production of chemical drugs in Canada and the increasing use of the highly addictive crystal meth.
"He's just stating the obvious," he said. "We're recognized as a threat country."
Vancouver Province
------------------------------------------
Canada flooding U.S. with ecstasy: drug czar
Susan Lazaruk
CanWest News Service; Vancouver Province
Friday, January 04, 2008
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=4f6bf46f-6ee8-4b57-87b5-556586481d29&k=85586
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is warning Americans to be aware of a "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada."
In a news release distributed in the U.S. and Canada, Walters warned that ecstasy - a manufactured pill that triggers the feel-good brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine - is becoming popular again.
"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," Walters said in the release. And that's "alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United States."
He said ecstasy usage rose in the 1990s in the rave culture, where users took the "hug drug" and danced for hours, but its use dropped in the early 2000s.
But a recent 40 per cent spike in use between 2005 and 2006, with one-third of users being under 18, worries Walters.
"These increases coincide with increased trafficking of ecstasy from Canada," said his office.
The number of ecstasy pills seized at the Canada-U.S. border grew tenfold in three years, to 5.5 million in 2006 from 570,000 in 2003, it said.
A spokesman from the office, who spoke on condition he wouldn't be identified, said there is virtually no ecstasy produced in the U.S., possibly because of more stringent controls over the importation of the ingredients needed to produce the pills.
He said the pills before 2003 were imported largely from the Netherlands and Belgium, but Canada has become a new "target country."
"We thought we kind of had this problem licked" through stepped up law enforcement and education programs that highlight the dangers, such as damage to the brain and other organs and even death.
Cpl. Richard De Jong, of the RCMP's drug and organized crime squad, said the RCMP shares the U.S. officials' concern about the increased production of chemical drugs in Canada and the increasing use of the highly addictive crystal meth.
"He's just stating the obvious," he said. "We're recognized as a threat country."
Vancouver Province
------------------------------------------
Canada flooding U.S. with ecstasy: drug czar
Susan Lazaruk
CanWest News Service; Vancouver Province
Friday, January 04, 2008
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=4f6bf46f-6ee8-4b57-87b5-556586481d29&k=85586
