Ecstasy quality kits all the rage
By LOUISE MILLIGAN
02dec00
ECSTASY tester kits have become the latest tool of the chemical generation to determine the quality of the illegal drugs taken at nightclubs and parties.
Hailed as quick, simple and legal, the kits tell users if pills contain MDMA (pure ecstasy) or other additives such as heroin and amphetamines.
The kits are promoted on an internet site that rates ecstasy varieties such as White Mitsubishis according to content, quality and effect.
"Looks like a nice professional job . . . Users report a speedy, dancey, chatty pill," the site, which is not written by the kit's manufacturers, says of one pill.
Pill testers appeared in The Netherlands several years ago but were difficult to find in Australia. Some were imported but at $50 they were more expensive than most ecstasy.
Recently locally-made kits called E, which include a vial of a liquid-testing re-agent and a colour chart, have become readily available at record stores and smoking paraphernalia shops. Costing $22, the maker says they promote safety in inevitable drug use.
"At the Chemical Generation, we are acutely aware of the deeply paralysing moral and legal issues surrounding the use of our product and are committed to our stance that E . . . does not promote or facilitate the use of ecstasy," it tells users on the kit's leaflet.
A Chemical Generation spokesman said the company, launched six months ago, did not condone drug use.
"Personally, I don't believe in decriminalisation," he said. "We hope to work with the police in the future. (jb: wtf?) The more information there is out there about the drugs people are taking, the better."
Victorian police forensic centre director Gavin Canavan said forensic units used colour-tester kits only as "a first point of call".
"Anything that just gives you a colour change doesn't give you an indication of quality," he said. "They could give users a false sense of security."
Chemical Generation said its test was better than having no information at all.
Paul Elliott, whose PolyEster Books in Melbourne's Fitzroy supplies the kits, says what buyers do with the kit is up to them.
Mr Elliott sells about six testers a week and said they were becoming more popular.
Ecstasy user "Mark" indulges several times a year. As a DJ in the electronic music scene, he mixes with plenty of people who use the drug every weekend.
"People in the scene are mature about the way they use Es," he said. People who bought for friends or for re-selling would chemically test the drugs first.
Five per cent of the Australian adult population – almost 1 million people – has tried ecstasy, according to a report released last week by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
Short-term effects include euphoria, confidence, dehydration and nausea. Little is known about long-term effects.
