Pubdate: Tue, 30 May 2000
Source: Ha'aretz (Israel)
Copyright: 2000sHa'aretz Daily Newspaper Ltd.
Contact:  21 Schocken St., P.O.B 233, Tel-Aviv 61001, Israel
Fax: 03-5121156
Website: http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/
Author: Haim Shadmi

JUST FOR THE TASTE OF IT

Ecstasy substitute was sold over-the-counter at more than 1,200 outlets. 
Then the Health Ministry had second thoughts.

Explorer, a legal substitute for ecstasy, recently navigated the length and 
breadth of the country for several months. Though it does not give users 
the euphoric feeling provided by ecstasy, body-stimulation effects caused 
by Explorer are actually more intense than those produced by illegal 
ecstasy pills.

Originally, the Health Ministry approved the marketing of Explorer pills 
under the rubric of "food supplements." But two weeks ago, when laboratory 
analysis found that Explorer, produced from the Sida Cordifolia plant, 
contains ephedrine alkaloids which are banned for food use, the Ministry 
backtracked and canceled the authorization.

The Health Ministry now holds that due to the existence of ephedrine, the 
substance should be classified as a drug whose importation and use in 
Israel is to be held up, subject to approval from its pharmaceutical 
department.

For now, Uri Falcha, who imports Explorer from the United States, has 
received an official directive from the Health Ministry, ordering him to 
immediately stop marketing the product. In parallel, the Ministry is 
banning Sida Cordifolia for use in food products.

Both XTA, another ecstasy substitute whose sale has for the time being been 
banned, and Explorer exemplify the growing industry of drug surrogates. 
These are products which have a clear relation to narcotics, and which are 
sometimes sold over-the-counter in stores, on an unrestricted basis. Falcha 
says that Explorer can be found today at 1,200 outlets around Israel, and 
that some 50,000-60,000 product items have already been sold.

Now that Explorer's marketing license has been rescinded, and after "buzz," 
a marijuana substitute marketed by Falcha, failed to make vibes among 
consumers due to its weak physical effects, Falcha is trying his luck with 
another item, "mega-buzz." He has also applied for licenses to market a few 
other drug surrogates, and these requests are currently pending with the 
Health Ministry's food administration.

The traffic in drug surrogates has left governmental authorities scratching 
their heads. An inter-ministerial committee comprised of officials from the 
Health, Public Security, and Industry and Trade ministries has started 
trying to formulate guidelines for the examination of all imported 
drug-like substances. Dr. Antoli Margolis, of the Health Ministry's 
department for addiction care, explains that this inter-ministerial 
committee has been formed because of the steep rise in the number of drug 
surrogate substances imported into Israel.

The Health Ministry divides substances into three categories - those 
admissible for use, those whose use requires a doctor's prescription, and 
those banned because of illicit narcotic applications. The fact that the 
Health Ministry permitted the marketing of Explorer in Israel, only to 
change its mind after several months when it discovered that the plant from 
which the substance is extracted contains ephredine, reflects its limited 
ability to monitor substances that are poised to flood national markets.

Falcha is flabbergasted that the Health Ministry detected the ephredine in 
Sida Cordofolia at such a late date. "What does it mean when they say 'we 
didn't know,'?" he asks incredulously. "If the Health Ministry doesn't 
know, then who can really know?"

Falcha charges that the Ministry doesn't bother to enforce questionable 
bans that it slaps on products. "They say 'don't use the product,' but 
everybody uses it. It would be much better if, instead of dealing with 
prohibitions, they were to provide information, and explain to people what 
LSD is, or what ecstasy and grass are."

He complains about the willful presentation of distorted information to the 
public: "In Israel, a joint and heroin are considered comparable - as 
though anyone who has tried a joint, and enjoyed it, won't be able to 
distinguish between it, and shooting heroin." The authorities fail to draw 
distinctions between hard and soft drugs, he charges.

Yet hints of new official approaches to drug issues can be gleaned from the 
attitude of Dr. Jorge Glaser, the head of the Health Ministry's 
addictions-care department. Not a proponent of the legalization of 
narcotics, Glaser believes nonetheless that new options and increased 
information should be provided to these who already use drugs. He notes 
that in countries where drug use is illegal, drug-takers are unable to know 
much about what they're using. To furnish evidence for his point, he 
observes that just a few months ago, police in Israel reported that whole 
shipments of ecstasy pills from the Netherlands contained rat poison.

Glaser says that some European countries which ban drugs have set-up 
quasi-official laboratories outside of social clubs. Social workers 
stationed in these labs/health facilities give advice to party-goers, 
helping those experiencing unwanted side-effects from drug use. In tandem, 
lab workers examine narcotics, to filter out lethal compounds, before use. 
Glaser says that such examinations have disclosed that just 40 percent of 
tested substances actually contained the compounds which they were 
purported to have.

"Activity in these laboratories is done anonymously," Glaser says. "They 
have been effective in minimizing health risks. Criminals put all sorts of 
substances into narcotics - consumers don't have a clue as to what they've 
purchased, and the whole business turns into Russian roulette. As a health 
professional, my view is that it's wrong to go near drugs; but I'm not a 
moralist whose business is to tell people what to do. I believe in 
disseminating clear information, and to provide health services to help 
people when accidents happen; and these services should be used without 
people fearing that the police will come to arrest them."

Such calculated forms of latitude in drug policy, Glaser concludes, will be 
enacted in Israel "only after a few incidents of death caused by incorrect 
use of drugs.".

A few months ago, XTA (an ecstasy surrogate) was marketed in Israel. Among 
other ingredients, XTA contains caffeine. According to Uri Falcha, importer 
of another ecstasy clone, Explorer, the Health Ministry banned XTA by 
claiming that any item which includes caffeine as a food supplement 
requires a doctors' prescription.

Falcha says that the director of the ministry's food services department, 
Dr. Brian Kazin, informed him about this caffeine-based ban at a meeting 
two weeks ago, when the Explorer prohibition was announced. But Coca-Cola 
also contains caffeine. According to Falcha, the Health Ministry official 
told him that were Coke to be brought for approval today, the Ministry 
"would never approve it."

Asked about this comment, Kazin said that Coca-Cola is a soft drink whose 
use has been accepted around the world for years. What would happen were it 
to be brought for approval today? "Maybe we would approve it, or maybe we 
wouldn't," he said. "We'd have to talk about it."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart