trog
Bluelighter
Another fine bit of journalism from the Murdoch stable
The 'fun' drug with lethal results
The 'fun' drug with lethal results
THE POPULARITY of ecstasy – the "love drug" which began on the dance party scene – has risen so much it is now the fastest-growing drug of choice for people aged under 30.
Drug experts report ecstasy is now entrenched as a mainstream drug in Sydney and is now used in pubs, clubs, pool halls and dinner parties.
It is also being used recreationally in the home by teenagers in their bedrooms and couples seeking to improve their sex life, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
Interest in the drug has risen since the much-publicised death of schoolgirl Anna Wood in 1995. A new national survey shows the proportion of Australians to have used ecstasy has almost trebled since then.
In 1995, 2.4 per cent of Australians aged 14 and over had tried the drug but by 2001 this figure had rocketed to 6.1 per cent.
This increase outstripped the growth in popularity of any other illicit drug, according to the 2001 National Drug Household Survey.
The survey showed that in 2001, seven per cent of teenagers aged 14 to 19 – a total of 114,200 – had used ecstasy. Five per cent of this age group, 81,900, had used it in the last 12 months of the survey.
Ecstasy was most popular in the 20-29 age group, with one in five people – a total of 559,500 – having tried it at least once.
The survey, by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, says 7 per cent of Australians aged 30-39 had also tried the drug.
A separate 1999 report by the Victorian Cancer Council shows schoolchildren as young as 12 (2.2 per cent) had tried ecstasy.
Seizures of the ecstasy pills have also risen. Australian Federal Police seizures of ecstasy, or MDMA, had gone from 203 busts comprising 112kgs in 1996-97 to 211 seizures of 380kgs in 2000-2001.
A 2001 Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence report states MDMA is "readily available" in Australian metropolitan centres, including Sydney. Outside of Sydney, MDMA was more difficult to buy except in the large regional centres of Albury, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn and Cootamundra.
"Ecstasy use has become more mainstream, extending beyond the dance and rave scene – with most jurisdictions reporting increases in the numbers of users and the popularity of the drug," the ABCI report stated.
NSW Police's Crime Agencies had seized 30,000 ecstasy pills, or pills resembling ecstasy, in the past year.
The pills sold for between $40 and $50 on the street.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre spokesman Paul Dillon said publicity surrounding Anna Wood's ecstasy death in 1995 had had an unintended effect – rather than turning people off ecstasy, it stirred curiosity about the then-underground drug.
Mr Dillon said people now used it regularly outside the dance club scene. Cases included two 15-year-old Sydney girls who took ecstasy in their bedrooms when they stayed over each other's houses, so they could have deep stimulating conversations.
Use of the drug was common amongst people who went drinking at RSLs or played pool at pubs and people were also taking it to dinner parties or using it to improve sex.
"People use it essentially wherever people get together to have fun – that can be in a house, in a pub or in an RSL," Mr Dillon said.
The public focus on ecstasy deaths – which were rare – overlooked other genuine health problems it caused, such as overheating, dehydration, panic attacks and long-term anxiety problems.
"People, if they do experiment with it, overwhelmingly . . . have a reasonably pleasant experience on it – and it challenges everything they've been told about the risks," Mr Dillon said.
DANGEROUS DRUG TOP OF THE POPS
Name: MDMA or methylenedioxymethylamphetamine.
Street names: e, eckie, pill or love drug
What it does: Induces feelings of connection, has hallinogenic properties
Short-term effects: nausea, high body temperature, numbness, blurred vision
Long-term effects: Can cause paranoia, insomnia and depression
Other dangers: Rare complications include liver inflammation, bone marrow problems and sudden death associated with overheating and dehydration.
TRENDY BRAND NAMES PART OF THE TRAP
DRUG barons pushing ecstasy are using trendy brand names to market their product.
Rather than pictures and symbols, pills come branded with the names of respected companies.
Rolls Royce and Calvin Klein logos are popular, but dealers are also offering pills with tags including Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Versace, the Qantas "flying kangaroo" symbol and Apple Mac.
The brand names or cartoon images of characters including Bart Simpson and Superman are not used to make the tablets look cool or to appeal to kids.
The logos are meant to act as identifiers for a particular batch of ecstasy, so if you liked the one you took, you can pick the same one next time.
But police and drug experts argue this is totally deceptive.
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre spokesman Paul Dillon said that when the stamping began, ecstasy was manufactured overseas, so it was a good indicator of batch.
But in the past few years, operators of backyard amphetamine laboratories in Australia decided to get in on the act.
They made methylamphetamine pills resembling ecstasy tablets. The rush it created was similar, but it did not have the "love drug" effect.
The meth tablets were marketed and sold as ecstasy for about the same price.
Detective Superintendent Paul Jones, commander of the NSW Police's drug trafficking and production unit, said that only 20 per cent of "ecstasy" pills police seize contain MDMA – most contain methyl- amphetamine.
Bikie gangs and Asian organised crime groups had become involved in the local production of these tablets, which was easier and did not require MDMA precursor chemicals.
"The risks if that you could finish up with anything – someone made in a backyard lab," Supt Jones said.
A 2001 Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence report said that this trend would continue.
"There have been instances of methylamphetamine being mixed with ephedrine, ketamine, caffeine, LSD or heroin, then made into tablets and . . . passed as ecstasy, thus attracting a higher price," the report says.
Mr Dillon said users had begun using test kits obtained over the internet to test their drugs, which lulled them into a false sense of security because it only tested for one drug in the tablet.
Very annoyed that it ends with that last paragraph.
