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NEWS: Daily Telegraph 19 Aug 02: The 'fun' drug with lethal results

trog

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Oct 27, 2001
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Sydney, Australia
Another fine bit of journalism from the Murdoch stable
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. :(
 
Overall a very good article, in my opinion. The last paragraph containing the party line about test kits giving a false sense of security is essentially to cover their arses, I think.
However, this article does bring into light the fact that ecstacy is being used by people other than ravers. In fact, by many people outside the dance music scene. This is something that is all too often forgotten, with raves and drugs being lumped together in one hit. Ectsacy is synonymous with the dance scene and many people fail to realise that there are people who enjoy MDMA who never go to raves and maybe even hate dance music.
Very good they mentioned that logos and colours mean nothing.
BigTrancer :)
 
One of the more balanced reports on the drug ive read, but is it really all new news or just the usual "weve run out of stories so lets do another article on e".
Good that they have basically quashed the myth that its only ravers that do e, i mean, people drinking at the RSL now identifies a whole new group of people.
nice to see some objective journalism for a change, though the title of the article is a bit of the usual "lethal dangerous you are all going to die" and doesnt really match the way that they said that ecstacy deaths are rare... oh well.. i guess it guarantees a read!
Andromeda :)
[ 19 August 2002: Message edited by: Andromeda ]
 
I guess the thing that really annoyed me was the screaming big headline about "lethal" ecstasy. Then despite the fact that there's heaps of statistics within the article, there's virtually nothing about this lethality - in fact when death gets a mention so does the word "rare"...
 
I saw these articles and wrote a letter to the editor I very much doubt it will get published. Just made a comment about that last paragraph about heroin in pills. And testing kits
if it stops u from buying a speed or k bomb its paid for itself basically.
Was good to see them print so many good comments clubbers over sydney had made about the drug too. Normally papers only print the bad shit. Ok so people comented on how easy it is to get but i dont think anyone had anything bad to say about it.
[ 19 August 2002: Message edited by: sydkiwi ]
 
Good factual report, quoting the research reports accurately for once.
Newspaper articles are written by reporters but the final headlines are decided by subeditors, hence the discrepancy here.
This is a good headline because it is designed to catch the reader's attention - and it does, in the good old traditional tabloid way - but obviously it is also misleading as hell.
One step backwards, two steps forward?
 
Yes, I thought these articles actually had a neutral/good attitude towards MDMA for a change. Although I see they managed to squeeze "agony" and "ecstacy" in the heading of one of the articles again :D
 
Definately one of the best articles I've read, and probably the one of the best possible article we will ever see in a mainstream newspaper.
 
Finally got the paper version of this and was reading the editorial, which was very anti-e.
...
To attract young users, tablets are stamped with image [sic] of character such as Bart Simpson and Superman. Earlier this year one internet site chat room discussed the merits of an ecstasy tablet named after Harry Potter. For the older more fashion-conscious user, there are designer names such as Calvin Klein - or CK - HQ or Mercedes, used obviously without authorisation.
...
Then checked the article and this bit, which appears on the on-line version had been excised on the paper version
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.
Hmmm, looks like someone has been cutting and pasting and changing the meaning just a tad...
 
I love this bit:
For the older more fashion-conscious user, there are designer names such as Calvin Klein - or CK - HQ or Mercedes, used obviously without authorisation.
"To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you in order to ask your permission to stamp ecstacy tablets (MDMA only) with your company logo. This advertising will reach a very wide audience from clubbers to RSL members..."
Not too sure about fashion concious either. People want a fuckin good pill, not some poxy logo.
Interesting editorial.
 
just off the discussion a tad, can anyone explain to me what {sic} means when you see it in and article? Eg:-...tablets are stamped with image [sic] of character such as Bart Simpson and Superman....thx.
Dave.
 
sic stand for some latin bollox. It's used when you quote someone and they have made a grammatical mistake. In this case the article read "stamped with image of" when to be grammatical it should have read "stamped with an image of"
Hence the sic.
 
Don't forget the editorial on page 18 (and the cartoon!), and the ongoing feature on page 20. I don't have a scanner or I would post it here.
The special feature continued on Tuesday 20th August. It said that users took anti-depressant's including Prozac and moclobemide to enhance the experience. Well, they got it half right I guess.
 
They do mention that testing reagent's only test for one chemical though, I mean, just because its sold as an E tester doesn't just mean it tests for E :)
 
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