UK - When class A drugs become cheaper than the average pint, criminalisation has fai

[edgarshade]

When class A drugs become cheaper than the average pint, criminalisation has failed

Telegraph
By Carola Binney
1:13PM BST 24 Jul 2013

With reader comments

It's easier for a teenager to buy dangerous drugs than alcohol. Our policymakers need to wake up and fix this.

On Saturday Martha Fernback, a 15-year-old girl from Oxford, died after taking what she believed was ecstasy. She bought the pill that killed her for just £3 – 21p cheaper than the average pint of beer.

That ecstasy, or MDMA, is now more affordable than a pint demonstrates beyond all doubt the failure of the policy of criminalisation. Everything, legal or not, has a price, and if such a policy works it is by pushing the cost of undesirable substances up to levels that reduce consumption. Despite the carnage of the war on drugs, the trend has instead been for a steady and significant decrease in average prices across the board. Ecstasy is now half the price it was in 2001, while the most recent drugs report from the Department of Health suggests that the mean street price of both cocaine and heroin decreased by £9 per gram between 2005 and 2010.

The end result is that ecstasy is as readily available as cheap alcohol; far more so if you're a 15-year-old girl. Drug pushers have a positive incentive to target curious, rebellious, gullible children with a lifetime of potential addiction ahead of them; pubs have everything to lose by selling to under age customers.

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...-average-pint-criminalisation-has-failed.html

 

[RTrain]

Well thats probably some bunk E if it costs ~5$ a hit. As a matter of fact I would wager said ectasy was more MDA than MDMA, and that 1. why it killed her so easily and 2. why it was dogshit cheap.

MDA has something like10% the LD50 of MDMA, and similar effects. Similar enough to sell it as E mixed in a pill with some MDMA.

Believe me no one is buying pure MDMA in the powder form on the streets for $5 or 3L a hit. But shady ectasy pills that have who knows what in them, thats a different story.

EDIT: OK so reading the article reveals the pill was most likely PMA, another strong amphetamine that is pushed as E cause it has somewhat similar effects to MDMA. That is what she OD'd on and subsequently went into cardiac arrest from.

I agree stories like this are the often the result of criminalization. Not to say this is an unfathomable story with gov't regulated drugs. Still would be illegal for a 15 y/o to buy it, still would be a black market for drugs at cheaper than gov't prices. People still could acquire pure MDMA and cut it with dangerous amphetamines and sell it at cheaper prices(particularly to minors who can't legally buy the substances), marketing it as E.

 

[Tenchi]

When I used to do pills back in about 2005, I used to pay around £2 a pill and they were a decent amount of decent quality MDMA so back then it was possible. Now? I wouldn't trust a pill at all.

 

[23536]

Excellent article!

The point of it, really, is not that prohibition can't increase prices, but rather that legalization can increase safety. That is something we all know, but seldom see articulated in major newspapers with broad readerships.

 

[PurpleKush1]

Well thats probably some bunk E if it costs ~5$ a hit. As a matter of fact I would wager said ectasy was more MDA than MDMA, and that 1. why it killed her so easily and 2. why it was dogshit cheap.

MDA has something like10% the LD50 of MDMA, and similar effects. Similar enough to sell it as E mixed in a pill with some MDMA.

Believe me no one is buying pure MDMA in the powder form on the streets for $5 or 3L a hit. But shady ectasy pills that have who knows what in them, thats a different story.

EDIT: OK so reading the article reveals the pill was most likely PMA, another strong amphetamine that is pushed as E cause it has somewhat similar effects to MDMA. That is what she OD'd on and subsequently went into cardiac arrest from.

I agree stories like this are the often the result of criminalization. Not to say this is an unfathomable story with gov't regulated drugs. Still would be illegal for a 15 y/o to buy it, still would be a black market for drugs at cheaper than gov't prices. People still could acquire pure MDMA and cut it with dangerous amphetamines and sell it at cheaper prices(particularly to minors who can't legally buy the substances), marketing it as E.

mda is virtually as safe as mdma man. It is tronger yes but not strong enough to die from a pill or two. The few times i had some i ate 5-6 (not at once) and was fine. Its harder on the body but its not lethal. Dont spread more propaganda please. Altough i dont vouch for E, because while its safe phsycially mentally its one of the hardest drugs out there. stay safe

 

[Transform]

Nice to see an article with a title like this.

With MDMA at £30/g a dose is about the same as a pint but other synthetics are VERY cheap. When the dose of something like 25I is 1mg it's going to be hard for 30g of alcohol to compete in any universe on material costs, but regulation and taxation could put them on a par.

 

[RTrain]

mda is virtually as safe as mdma man. It is tronger yes but not strong enough to die from a pill or two. The few times i had some i ate 5-6 (not at once) and was fine. Its harder on the body but its not lethal. Dont spread more propaganda please. Altough i dont vouch for E, because while its safe phsycially mentally its one of the hardest drugs out there. stay safe

My bad, that does seem to be the case now that I have looked it up. Though the info out there is limited, it seems to be slightly stronger like you said. I know I have read somewhere MDA was about 5x as toxic as MDMA and was the reason for so many ODs on E. Maybe some confusion with PMA, which was the culprit in this case. I was just trying to make the point that it wasn't the drug that she was paying for (MDMA) that killed the girl, but something that wasn't expected to be in there and is a cheap substitute.

 

[PurpleKush1]

My bad, that does seem to be the case now that I have looked it up. Though the info out there is limited, it seems to be slightly stronger like you said. I know I have read somewhere MDA was about 5x as toxic as MDMA and was the reason for so many ODs on E. Maybe some confusion with PMA, which was the culprit in this case. I was just trying to make the point that it wasn't the drug that she was paying for (MDMA) that killed the girl, but something that wasn't expected to be in there and is a cheap substitute.

Oh no i def understood your point, i agree with it 100 %. I hate when people say MdXX is lethal, because in 99.9 % of the cases it aint, its the other shit in exctacy like the PMA or the ridiculous Meth+ PMA + CAffeine ''molly'S'' that kill people. MDA is harder on the body, feels more toxic, but its not dangerous really, if you say double drop 100 mg pills you are going to get high in the face with 200 mg MDA and i can guarantee unless the person is seasoned or naturally tolerant they are gonna regret the first hour and when they snap out of the overwhemiling feeling they are not gonna want some more. Its exactly what ahppened to my stupid ass the first time with MDA. Afterwards i doulbe dropped them because one didnt do it after i felt so out of it on 2. But ive heard of people eating .5g and mroe and being ok. PMA is the real issue.

 

[Toz]

Illegal drugs are not expensive as long as you don't use them on a daily basis. If you keep your usage to a minimum, using heroin is much cheaper than going out every friday night. The problem is this is not always too easy.