Deadly 'eccies' appear in probe
Tony Wilson
22Aug07
GOLD Coast police have found 25 fake ecstasy tablets they warn can kill and are urging people not to take the light purple pills.
Queensland Health yesterday confirmed the tablets were the fatal substitute for ecstasy known as PMA, which claimed the lives of Sydney dance teacher Annabel Catt in February and a 20-year-old Canberra man in July.
Authorities fear the drug is becoming more widespread in Australia.
Police said 25 PMA tablets, with the letters DG on them, were found in a Gold Coast raid as part of an investigation into the overdose death of Blair Elizabeth Vaina, 18, at Jabiru Island at the weekend.
The Austinville teenager, who had no known history of drug use, died after taking five tablets during what police called 'naive experimenting' in the early hours of Saturday.
Police say it is unlikely Ms Vaina took PMA. It is thought she consumed a different type of tablet and it was just the sheer volume of ecstasy she ingested over five or six hours that led to her death.
Drug experts told The Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday two and a half ecstasy tablets was the 'absolute limit' during any one session.
Police and drug experts said taking a single ecstasy tablet was like playing 'Russian roulette' with your life.
Following the death of Ms Vaina and the collapse of her 17-year-old boyfriend, who was hospitalised, detectives charged a 19-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, both from Varsity Lakes, with drug offences including allegedly supplying Ms Vaina with ecstasy tablets.
Police sources told The Bulletin that information uncovered during the arrest of the Varsity Lakes pair led police to another Gold Coast address where the deadly, pale purple tablets were located.
Police do not know if any of the 'purple death' tabs had already been sold and are urging people not to take them, but to contact police even if it is anonymously.
PMA, or parameth-oxyamphetamine, is a strong psychedelic drug that affects the central nervous system and causes fatal hyperthermia and seizures.
It has no medical use and police say one tablet can be fatal.
It is easier and cheaper to manufacture than ecstasy and can be passed off as an eccie.
Know as 'red death' or 'red Mitsubishis', the fake ecstasy tablets first emerged in Canada in 1973 when nine young partygoers died.
Since then, more than 20 young people have died from PMA in the USA, Canada, Austria, Denmark and Germany.
The 'dirty drug' appeared in Australia in 1994 on the dance scene and has led to deaths in South Australia and NSW, plus many near-lethal overdoses.
State Drug Investigation Unit chief Detective Superintendent Brian Wilkins said last night Queensland police were 'extremely concerned' that people were risking their lives by taking the illicit drug.
"People need to be reminded that if they take ecstasy, whatever the colour or logo, they actually have no idea of what they are taking. It could not only make them very sick, but they could in fact die as a result," he said.
He advised anyone who believed they might be suffering from illicit drugs to seek immediate medical attention.