West Australian cover story - EZ kit blasted

OMG, i almost threw my bowl of cereal against a wall this morning.
The West ran a cover story concerning the testing kits in this mornings paper which i think ranks up there with the lowewt ever point for the media wrt to XTC.
I don't have time to go on, but everyone i am sure will be talking about this. Most of the comments, mainly from the police minister were disgraceful, esp the "possessing a kit is proof of intent" bla bla bla.
I have already written a letter to the editor but until then, how fucked off are we all about this one; let me know...

very fucked off. but,as usual, this has happened before. there was a media hysteria incident about a year ago when they first came out in europe. a whole lot of noise was made in the english press, but little came of it.
i'll try and find those reports.
is there an url for this story?
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"i think i'll stick to drugs to get me thru the long, dark night of late-capitalism..."
Irvine Welsh

Here's the link (I'm not promising it will work, it's the first time I've tried it.)
http://thewest.com.au/20000607/News/new-per-sto1-bod.html
Quote...
"If it was going to save lives then health and law enforcement authorities would have looked at it years ago," Supt Gere said. "This is just someone making money out of something used for illegal purposes."
Pretty pathetic comment by the cops, they would pretty much prefer to see kids die, because clearly testing an illegal substance is illegal and therefore evil!
[This message has been edited by Bent (edited 07 June 2000).]

argh... the pricks have made it impossible to cut and paste it... damn you and your so called laws of intellectual copywright!!
ok there's one very interesting point here that might actually help us. there's a quote from a Colin Priddis, Chief Scientist at the WA Chemistry Centre. he apparently tested it for the paper. his first sentence says it would give a different result for ecstacy than it would for PMA! now does this mean he has actually tested a sample of PMA? if so this is very important, because not even dancesafe have done that.
needless to say i urge any of our WA BLers to write letters to this paper and try and get our view point across, i dont think i can, not being a resident of your fair state.
one thing i will do is try to get in contact with this Colin Priddis...

From the same article...

"Tamara Speed, of the WA Substance Users Association, said she was in favour of drug testing kits, but would not condone E-Z Test until it was proved to be reliable and came with drug education material."

Click to expand...

What's in a name? Wonder if she would test orange...
BigTrancer

i just sent off this email to the journo who wrote the story ([email protected])

i was given the url to your cover story today on ecstacy testing kits. i am greatly interested in finding out some form of contct details, prefereably an email address, for Colin Priddis, the scientist mentioned in the report.
in the article it was mentioned that Colin Priddis felt the EZ-Test kit could distinguish between PMA and MDMA. what i am trying to find out is did he use a sample of PMA to discover this, and if so what was the reaction.
this information is of vital importance. not even EZ-Test in amsterdamn, or dancesafe.org in america, who make an indentical tester, know as yet what that reaction is, as they have not had the chance to get a sample of PMA.
i should explain my interest in this. i am the moderator of the australian section of www.bluelight.ru . this site is set up as a worldwide information exchange on MDMA and related drugs. we have been following the PMA deaths since our inception and are doing all we can to promote harm minimisation as the way to stop more people dying. part of what we are doing is promoting the use of such testing kits. we have a good working relationship with EZTest, dancesafe, and the chemical generation, an australian company that is just starting to produce a locally made kit.
we are also working closely with RaveSafe in various states to set up adulterant screening at raves and events.
i am telling you all this not to shamelessly self promote, but in an effort to show you how sincere this request for information is. if we can find out exactly how PMA reacts to the Marquis reagent in the EZ Test, then we can quickly pass on that information to harm minimisation groups not just locally, but all over the world.
so if you could please either pass this email onto Colin Priddis or even better supply me with some contact information i would be extremely grateful
thanks in advance

Click to expand...

[This message has been edited by johnboy (edited 07 June 2000).]

Utter, utter, utter, utter, utter...Bastards!
That said, JB can you then post the reply that the guy gives you? Or a general gist sort of thing...Curious to see if he handles your request with some form of respect and courteousy.
Cheers

sure... one thing to keep in mind here, it's not the newspaper attacking ez test, it's them reporting the police attacking the kit, as well as reporting people defending it. the enemy, as always, is the police. we just have to use the press back at them...

GRRR!
This report is so BIASED! It is so full of holes you could use it as a sieve.
For a start, it has absolutely no mention of the amount of non tested pills consumed every day/weekent in perth. It also doesn't mention that the (supposedly huge) amount of deaths would be greatly (?) reduced due to the use of the tester. Not to mention the also aforementioned predictions of the improvement of the quality of the drugs in circulation. This is the most pathetic attempt to inspire fear into the parents of the populace I've ever witnessed.
Be ashamed West Australian,
DB.

Oh Yeah,
And IMHO, A Biased report is as good as an attack on EZ Test.
Over and out,
DB

well tell them...
Letters to the Editor
[email protected]
but don't write angry, you just sound like a crank. anyone thinking of writing a letter should check these out:
http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm
http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm

oh dear, my beloved west australian does it again. that's the problem with a one paper city, no need for objective journalism.
i was hoping it would have gotten better with the advent of the internet, clearly not.
i have written to a friend who work with the department of health in Perth with alcohol and other drugs, urging them to respond from a harm minimisation viewpoint.
see what happens
regardless of the media bullshit viewpoint, it is perhaps good advertising for the pill taking public in general. maybe it will improve the quality of the pills in perth if more people test (i have noticed you guys complaining about your perth "shite")
pinger

jb - if you ever can't copy and paste something you can go into edit page (from netscape) and copy and paste from there...
PERTH's illegal drug users are snapping up a
do-it-yourself kit that can tell "good" ecstasy
from the cocktails of chemicals often sold to
unsuspecting users.
But police say the kits are dangerous and could
give drug users a false sense of security.
The "E-Z Test" kit is marketed as a potential
life-saver. The kit - a small amount of chemical
reagent and a colour chart - sells for between $15
and $50.
Promotional material encourages users to
"protect (themselves) against the polluted XTC
(ecstasy) market".
One of the kit's creators, Tony Puglio, says it can
save lives by giving users a better indication of
what they are taking.
"All drugs carry risks and we assume people who
use the kit will already be taking those drugs," he
has told the BBC.
But Acting Det-Supt Fred Gere, of the organised
crime division, said any potential to save lives
was limited.
"If it was going to save lives then health and law
enforcement authorities would have looked at it
years ago," Supt Gere said. "This is just someone
making money out of something used for illegal
purposes."
Police could use possession of a kit as proof of
intent in a criminal charge, he said.
Police Minister Kevin Prince said the kit
promoted illegal drug use. "I would not wish
death on anybody but the best way to prevent that
is do not take the stuff," he said.
WA Chemistry Centre chief scientist Colin
Priddis tested the kit for The West Australian .
It successfully distinguished ecstasy from most
other substances, Mr Priddis said.
For instance it would give a different result if a
pill was the toxic chemical PMA, sometimes
passed off as ecstasy and blamed for at least three
deaths in Perth since October.
The test kit also would distinguish ecstasy tablets
from amphetamines (speed), caffeine, aspirin and
vitamins.
However the reagent in the kit was not fresh and
therefore less reliable, Mr Priddis said. Also, it
would not detect if an ecstasy tablet also
contained other chemicals such as the anaesthetic
ketamine.
The kits are sold at several Perth shops, including
a music store and a clothing store. At one outlet,
they have been selling out faster than they could
be re-ordered.
Tamara Speed, of the WA Substance Users
Association, said she was in favour of drug
testing kits, but would not condone E-Z Test
until it was proved to be reliable and came with
drug education material.
Alston, page 15

oh right, view source right? i just assumed it would be a linked image... ta heaps!
still no reply... anybody in perth got any clues how to get onto this guy?

JB, just found this in the white pages:
Chemistry Centre (W.A.)
125 Hay St
East Perth
Fax: 08 9325 7767
FREECALL 1800 666 322
Email :[email protected]
URL is http://www.ccwa.wa.gov.au
[This message has been edited by Ben (edited 07 June 2000).]

thanks heaps!
woohoo! gotta love instant activism... poked around their site... seems to be a government org with a very coporate edge. i think their forensics dept are the people to talk to. their email is [email protected]
i'll send something off this arvo...
[This message has been edited by johnboy (edited 07 June 2000).]

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!
I hate WA journalism,,,,so fucking biased!
Whats worse is it was the feature cartoon in the letters to the editor section, just asking people to bitch about this terrible flaw in society. I'm gonna calm down then write a letter to these fucking pricks.
Anyone know how to blow up a building?
Please, WA bl'ers write some letters in.
This was just after the non-bias non-offensive report on tuesday about perths dance partys and why they were so fun? go figure?

Funny that they should print this article so soon after they printed a similar article about rave culture etc see my post from yesterday in the other Australian Forum...
I think that this guy who is writing is trying to get some type of point across as I am pretty sure he wrote the article concerning Madhatters yesterday too... sure it is badly written and full of holes but still it got us in gear didn't it?
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The Strange Guy with Strange Hair

exactly. we just have to use this media attention for our own purposes. they just want a story, we just have to give it to them, on our terms.
i just got a reply from Nick Miller. the gist is that the guy at the lab only told him and probably didn't do a test, but Nick goes on to say that it is the opinion of a guy with many years experiences in working with amphetamines. fair enuf, but as Nick says we can and should ask the lab guy directly.
in my reply to Nick im going to offer to send him the results once we now it, so he can maybe publish them in a follow up story. what better way to use the media than to finally get the info out there that PMA has such and such reaction to an EZ-Test

Hi all,
I read the story in the West today as well...the WA police response is typical. In fact compared to previous double page spreads in the West recently about 'ecstasy the death drug' I thought this was a step up!!
Anyway I had the same thought as you JB I reckon this guy from the chem centre might finally be able to give us a definitive answer on the PMA test, so good on ya for getting on the case.
Also in a previous post I noticed that Drug Dustbin wrote "PMA: Mandelin's test - green "...then described what Mandelins test was. Slight problem was that MDA also went green, but then blue. Also amphetamine and d-meth gave green. However using EZ test and Mandelins test would give a good idea as to whats in the pill. Maybe Mandelins should be sold alongside Marquis (EZ test or new E test).
Ok..going to start my letter to the editor
Aus