Pubdate: Thu, 23 Feb 2012
Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Abbotsford News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/BkAJKrUD
Website: http://www.abbynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1155
Webpages: http://mapinc.org/url/HixTZE7R
Author: Kelsey Klassen

FROM THE UNDERGROUND TO THE MAINSTREAM

Despite efforts by authorities over recent years to protect the 
public from ecstasy pushers, the scene has quietly edged sideways and 
carried on.

Scouring a teen's room for baby pacifiers, stuffed animals and 
glowing gloves will no longer yield the classic hallmarks of an E user.

If you knew that those accessories are commonly associated with 
raves, and you already knew that a rave is a late-night dance party 
set to electronic music, then you might also know that ecstasy is the 
reason the sensory toys are popular.

Not the only reason - there are ravers who don't use drugs - but a 
large part of the desire to neon, glow-stick, and costume yourself to 
dance for long hours is fuelled by euphoria-inducing pills.

The context has moved, however, out of sweaty warehouse dance parties 
and 30-somethings' feel-good weekends, into the back seats of 
N-adorned cars and teenage get-togethers.

The rave scene reached Canada around 1991. Historically, the risks 
associated with using ecstasy, or MDMA, were due to the hot, 
prolonged environment of the dance floors. Hours of physical activity 
combined with a lack of water was a recipe for overheating, seizures 
and organ failure.

People died, yet the party continued because ecstasy lacked the bad, 
back-alley reputation of crack or heroin. The brightly coloured 
pills, stamped with cartoon faces or cute logos, seem far removed 
from the dangers of hard drug use.

Intimate house parties and weeknight concerts are the new backdrop to 
popping pills, and as the scene dilutes, the dangers mount.

In a 2009 report on the illicit drug situation, the RCMP acknowledged 
that by 2005 Canada was one of the primary source countries for the 
world's supply of ecstasy and that MDMA continued to be the most 
sought after and widely available controlled synthetic drug.

An amendment to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in 2011 made 
it illegal to possess the precursor chemicals.

The potential consequence was that traditional components of ecstasy 
became hard to come by in B.C., and a less expensive but lethal 
compound, PMMA, was introduced.

PMMA, also an amphetamine, is five times more toxic than MDMA. It is 
now often used to make a drug similar in appearance, and sold as, ecstasy.

Eight deaths in Calgary and five in B.C. since July 2011 have now 
been confirmed as caused by PMMA.

B.C. saw 16 ecstasy-related deaths in 2011 and two more so far in 2012.

The fatalities range from age 14 to 37.

Since November of last year, Abbotsford has had two young people die 
and a 24-year-old woman was in critical condition for weeks after 
consuming ecstasy.

Tyler Miller, 20, and Cheryl McCormack, 17, died late last year.

Depression, cracked teeth (from jaw-clenching), dehydration and high 
body temperatures don't sound quite as scary as brain and organ 
damage and death, so those warnings need to be repeated.

Ecstasy is anecdotally expected to be reliable. The curious are told 
by friends to simply anticipate a great night of "rolling," possibly 
augmented by additional pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Mark Yarema, medical director of the Poison and Drug Information 
Service, stresses that should the pills contain PMMA, the blissful 
effects are slower to kick in and it becomes tempting to take more, 
resulting in over-heating and seizures.

Due to various innovations in the drug-cooking world, "pingers" can 
be laced with highly toxic substances which are impossible to detect 
before ingesting.

With your ecstasy purchase, if it is actually ecstasy, it's likely 
you're getting crystal meth, cocaine, OxyContin, ketamine, GHB (a 
date-rape drug), and other wild-card ingredients the chemist was 
inspired to throw in.

MDMA is not safe either, having been found in all 18 B.C. fatalities.

While the authorities go after the people who produce the drugs, it 
only takes a two-letter word to stop their use - No.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart