Pubdate: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Now Newspaper Contact: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/forms/lettersform.html Website: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462 Author: Marisa Babic ECSTASY-ALCOHOL MIX A NEW THREAT Police are starting to see a disturbing new trend emerging among young drug users at raves who are now mixing a potentially deadly combination of ecstasy with alcohol. RCMP Sgt. Scott Rintoul, a drug awareness coordinator, says the trend was first spotted locally this summer at a rave party in Agassiz. "We probably interacted with well over a 100 people who had taken ecstasy and the majority had all been drinking as well, in fact some were very drunk and that's a trend you typically never saw before," Rintoul said Monday. Rintoul notes that even the website www.erowid.org, which bills itself as a harm reduction website, advises against mixing ecstasy with alcohol. "A lot of the advocates say don't do that - it's dangerous, yet we are now seeing a lot of people consuming alcohol and using ecstasy which is a really, really dangerous cocktail," he said. Rintoul notes that alcohol is a depressant which depresses the heart rate, something that would place the user at even greater risk should he overdose. "The consequences of that is very real and very disturbing," he said. A spokesman with Fraser Health said the region's emergency wards don't track overdoses based on type of substance abuse. Of all the substance-abuse cases involving young people who end up in the ER, most involve alcohol. Meanwhile, police are seeing a rise in level of crystal meth mixed with ecstasy to meet consumer demand for a quicker high. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine