Killer Pills – Myth or Murder? - PMA and MDMA in the UK

[Mike_Power]

Killer Pills – Myth or Murder?
http://www.mixmag.net/words/features/killer-pills-myth-or-murder

I wrote this piece to publicise what I feel is an under-reported scandal - the wave of PMA and PMMA killing clubbers – with a sudden spike in numbers around the north-west.

See what you think.

 

[Shambles]

Just read it and thought it was a decent piece, Mike. And given my somewhat low opinion of the moral vacuum that is the journalists' traditional domain that counts as high praise indeed :D

Is an issue that needs to be better understood by the drug-taking masses who don't visit sites like this one to check up on the substances they consume and is nice to see a bit of context included and - more importantly - to point out how lives could be saved by introducing somethink akin to the Dutch system.

I may even lay off calling you and your esteemed colleagues lying scumbags. Possibly

(except for that rolfcoptr cunt and all involved in that particular debacle)

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

Haven't read it all yet but looks decent and well done for publicizing the issue. It's the ultimate irony that when 'ecstasy' actually does start killing numbers of people, the national press say nothing. War on Drugs, don't ya love it.

 

[swampdragon]

Just read it and thought it was a decent piece, Mike. And given my somewhat low opinion of the moral vacuum that is the journalists' traditional domain that counts as high praise indeed :D

Yep, what he said. Good piece, hope people pay attention.

 

[Mike_Power]

Just read it and thought it was a decent piece, Mike. And given my somewhat low opinion of the moral vacuum that is the journalists' traditional domain that counts as high praise indeed :D

you and me both mate.

Is an issue that needs to be better understood by the drug-taking masses who don't visit sites like this one to check up on the substances they consume and is nice to see a bit of context included and - more importantly - to point out how lives could be saved by introducing somethink akin to the Dutch system.

yeah, it's the only way i can think of to sort things out.

I may even lay off calling you and your esteemed colleagues lying scumbags. Possibly

(except for that rolfcoptr cunt and all involved in that particular debacle)

I'm freelance my colleagues change each week...

glad you liked it.

 

[Mike_Power]

Haven't read it all yet but looks decent and well done for publicizing the issue. It's the ultimate irony that when 'ecstasy' actually does start killing numbers of people, the national press say nothing. War on Drugs, don't ya love it.

thanks shm. drug reporting in the UK is so fucked. I'm gonna write a news story on it as soon as i have some time. has anyone here read Narcomania? it's by some mates of mine Max Daly and Steve Sampson. It's a great book, readable and rigorous. just out.

Am working on a piece to promote my book right now, it's the one in the guardian that i approached a few people here over, including a guy called Mugz, who I see has recently died. real fucking bad that looked, so young.

 

[Shambles]

I'm freelance

Would you believe that was actually a path I considered going down many moons ago. True story.

 

[benson7]

Killer Pills – Myth or Murder?
http://www.mixmag.net/words/features/killer-pills-myth-or-murder

I wrote this piece to publicise what I feel is an under-reported scandal - the wave of PMA and PMMA killing clubbers – with a sudden spike in numbers around the north-west.

See what you think.

I thought it was good, and I liked the comparison to the horse meat scandal to.

 

[Mendo_K]

Nice article mate, we had a little discussion over it in the MDMA and pills thread, I thought I remembered your name last time you came around asking for questions.

keep it up

 

[Mailmonkey]

I think it's a good article too

Well balanced, and an important topic.

 

[Mike_Power]

thanks Mendo K, much appreciated. i'm trying to make technically complex stories accurate and accessible for a mass market, so i have to pitch it at a certain level. check the facebook thread on that piece to see the shocking levels of naivety around drug use. i think there's a false and misinformed consensus that MDMA/pills are safe, per se. They are not, nowadays, though they are not shock-horror-killer either.

But there is something ill in the air, and i've sensed this coming for a long time. People need facts for action while this debate is so cravenly politicised.

i've been at this story for a few years now, since the meph thing, and I'll likely take a step back soon, but before I do, I want to change the debate away from the boring legalise/ban debate.

The debate for me now is this: how much harm and risk are governments happy for their electorate to suffer? and how much longer should the public suffer that?

 

[Shambles]

how much harm and risk are governments happy for their electorate to suffer? and how much longer should the public suffer that?

The crux of which is...

the boring legalise/ban debate

Although realistically it will have to be broken down into palatable chunks for the hard of thinking and the thing about "club drug" deaths is they are probably an easier sell than pointing out the national disgrace of having junkies dying daily for the sake of having access to prescribed opiates. More photogenic and less unsavoury. Also generally less well-informed on what are - when it comes down to it - potentially life and death decisions. Realistically the mass of recreational drug users ain't gonna be arsed to look on sites like this - just want pills and powders of joy now and then that probably won't kill them. Is not too much to ask for really. Although selling the taxpayer on funding other folks' non-lethal chemical funtimes may be tricky. Far easier to blame the victims unfortunately. What with drugs just being bad, mkay? and all that anyway

Stoned ramble aside, I also liked the horsemeat comparison.

 

[Mike_Power]

The crux of which is...

yeah, you're right. it's late and i'm cold and hungry, got lost in writing i suppose i mean that the argument is won now; we just need to reframe the debate in some way that makes people see the harms prevalent in maintaining the status quo.

nightnight.

 

[Mailmonkey]

we just need to reframe the debate in some way that makes people see the harms prevalent in maintaining the status quo.

I think that's a good new angle to come at things from, it's always kind of included in the legalise/ban debates, but not as the main starting point...

 

[thought_]

This thread remindes me; vendors site's are dangerously claiming Mandelin EZ test's for PMA - it doesn't.



Nice article but I don't feel it pays the risk gap between PMA and MDMA justice. They are night and day. Although I realise this is a small point as nobody in their right mind is intentionally taking PMA, it does undermine just how dangerous PMA is especially when combined.

 

[Mike_Power]

I'll mail the editor and get that Mandelin line in there, you're right.

On the other point, we could argue all day - but remember that it's a maintream publication, rather than bluelight. different standards apply. i agree that PMA is hugely more toxic and risky proposition than MDMA - that's why i wrote the piece.