Bad batch of E- Loius Vuitton- via news.com.au

[Darklight]

http://www.news.com.au/national/louis-vuitton-designer-death-drug-hits-the-streets/story-fndo4ckr-1226463080805

A DEADLY batch of ecstasy pills branded one of the most dangerous to ever hit the streets has been linked to at least one death and a spate of overdoses.

The tablets, imprinted with the Louis Vuitton symbol, are suspected to have been involved in a 22-year-old man's death after a Brisbane house party last weekend.

Several of his friends also ended up in hospital after taking the same drugs, with emergency department staff confirming a spike in ecstasy overdoses.

Police, the health department, the ambulance service and the coroner were all alerted to overdoses or a potential bad batch before the death but there has been no public warning.

Users who have checked the tablets with home testing kits claim they contain the drug PMA (para-methoxyamphetamine), which has markedly different effects to ecstasy and can be lethal in high doses.

Compounding the danger, there are believed to be two Louis Vuitton batches - one induces standard ecstasy effects, while another looks almost identical but is the one believed to contain PMA and is highly toxic.

While authorities remained silent, increasingly desperate warnings were posted on Facebook and on drug website Pillreports over the past month.

"Why hasn't there been a massive warning ... at least 2 people I know have died on them and I have heard of more," valleyboi89 wrote on Pillreports on Thursday. "These are the most dangerous pills to ever come to Brisbane."

On August 24, two days before last weekend's death, another user wrote: "WARNING, I'm sure there are 2 batches going around in Brisbane, my friend's friend had a batch last weekend confirmed PMA and tragically died overnight."

One woman who overdosed at last Sunday's fatal Brisbane house party said she blacked out about 3pm after taking half a Louis Vuitton tablet. She woke up 24 hours later in the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where she learnt she had been resuscitated by paramedics and was lucky to be alive.

"One of my friends started convulsing on the floor," the 22-year-old told The Sunday Mail after being contacted this week.

"He was going into a seizure and then I blacked out. The next thing I know I woke up in the emergency room on a catheter and tubes were sticking out of me.

"I know there were definitely three of my friends from that party in the emergency ward with me, and unfortunately my friend passed away that day. None of us had any heart problems. He had taken two (pills)."

Princess Alexandra Hospital confirmed the admissions and warned of an "unusually high" number of people treated in its emergency department after taking ecstasy in recent weeks.

"There seems to be a cluster of increased presentations over the last three weeks which makes us wonder whether there is a bad batch on the streets," Dr Tina Bazianas said.

Police confirmed the death of the 22-year-old man last Sunday was being treated as a suspected overdose.

"Police are investigating information he ingested a pill, or some pills. What that substance is yet to be determined," said Detective Superintendent Steve Holahan of the state drug investigation unit.

He said he had not been informed of a spike in overdoses but the death was a significant concern. "If we had information there was any sort of spike or trend, or people were overdosing, in conjunction with police media and Queensland Health we'd certainly make those announcements," Supt Holahan said.

The Sunday Mail went to a range of authorities days before Sunday's death after learning of internet warnings about a bad batch of drugs in Brisbane. At the time police, the ambulance service, the health department and the coroner could not provide information and no warning was issued.

On August 14, almost two weeks before Sunday's death, a Brisbane woman warned on Facebook of "fatal overdoses in the last couple of weeks" involving experienced users. " If you or someone you know partakes, please be careful. Tell someone if you don't feel right," she wrote.

Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia director Paul Dillon warned authorities needed to act quickly.

"If there is ecstasy with something like PMA in it, and it did contribute to a death, that (information) needs to be out there," he said.

[email protected]

[qualia]

[CβL]

Who the hell would make PMA... :/

[OPP]

Or pass it off as MDMA......

All the more reason to buy a testing kit.

[DeadStar]

Reading bad news like this makes me miss The days when E was MDMA

[Bread Filter]

Thanks for getting this info out there Darklight.

These warnings are very important.

[ThunderIdeal]

hmmm, i'd appreciate more info about these, i've had a look at pillreports.

i think i might know the guy who died (pictured).

[Bigred]

i would love to get a hplc and do testing as a form of harm reduction if it saves one life or even prevents a overdose it would be worth every cent

but how would you go about it would be cool if you could have a little shop front in the valley a kind of neutral in the war on drugs you only need a speck

off the tablet to do a analysis

[DarkSpark]

Who the hell would make PMA... :/

 

Good question, some people would do anything for a buck, although killing off your clients doesn't seem like the mot effective way to go about it.

Reading bad news like this makes me miss The days when E was MDMA

 

Yeah, now its scary to think that you could get any number of various chemicals, most far more toxic than that which you are expecting. I dont get why if people want to sell PMA they dont actually MARKET it as PMA at least that way people could effectively research and realise they are probably going to only need a minimal dose. I would hope that the spate of overdoses etc will get this investigated and the people taken down and charged with X charges of manslaughter. This is the reason that i elected to not use pills and so forth as they slowly moved away rfrom MDMA and the effects i was getting were not what i wanted, then with research i realised that odds are i wasn't even getting what the bastards told me i was getting i realised that its not a world i want to be involved in. The idea that i could take a pill one week and get the 'same' pill the next week which will put me in hospital is scary. I once met a few people on the gold coast at a party that used to grind down their pills and re-press them with an assortment of additives and fillers, One batch had a bit much of one additive in it and 6 people at one of the parties ended up in hospital.

The worst part is that because we don't know whats in it it will take twice as long for the paramedics to find the problem. With an overdose odds are this is the difference between life and death.

[altenate]

That bad batch possibly made it to Tuggerah, NSW according to the police update thingy on Facebook.

Another death & a few hospitalizations.

Be careful people at this time if you do take pills! Heard of others getting sick lately....

We really need a change in laws....

How many people get sick, let alone die, that isn't made known.

Proof. The war on drugs kinda failed! Esp if shitte gets sold as MDMA....

[Shamanistic]

Holy shit, unless they are different Loius Vuitton I've heard some people talking about them. I guess this is what happens when things are demonised.

[Distracted]

Well this has definitely changed my opinion about Loius Vuitton, i won't be buying his hand bags anymore!

[nabraxas]

i won't be buying his hand bags anymore!

it's the cheap knock-offs that leave a bad taste in the mouth

[Heretic]

" Caveat Emptor " .... but I indeed hope the police are able to track down the creeps responsible asap .