Ecstasy pills reveal alarming cocktail

[Chiral]

SOURCE

Ecstasy users are unwittingly taking other potentially more dangerous substances including P, as drug dealers become more reckless, officials warn.

The trend is increasing the chance of accidental overdose and causing concerns for law enforcement and health authorities.

Testing of what was believed to be ecstasy (MDMA) tablets by Environmental Science and Research, revealed a cocktail of other substances, including P (methamphetamine), BZP and mephedrone – linked to the death of a British 14-year-old girl last month.

The tests were carried out on a number of illicit pills this year with results showing the majority contained BZP – the main ingredient in party pills made illegal in April 2008 – and mephedrone, a new substance in New Zealand similar to ecstasy.

ESR forensics general manager Keith Bedford said the results showed there was a "blurring of the boundaries" between different drugs, as traditional markings on pills became less reliable.

"The risk is much broader and there are quite unusual and new substances appearing [with] minimal information about their toxicity or long-term risks."

A United Nations report on drug trends in East and South East Asia, issued last month, showed ecstasy was now New Zealand's most popular drug, behind cannabis. It showed 25,806 tablets seized in 2008 compared with 4123 the year before.

National Drug Intelligence Bureau coordinator Detective Inspector Stuart Mills said the trend of mixing substances was among the police agency's main concerns.

"We are aware that tablets that are being sold as MDMA or ecstasy tablets don't actually contain ecstasy, or only a very small amount, or they may contain other ingredients such as BZP or other types of drugs," he said.

The rise of new and untested substances also created difficulties in judging potential effects, particularly toxicity and the level of risk the drugs pose, Dr Bedford said.

According to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, ecstasy use is on the rise in New Zealand. The UN drug study found around 8 per cent of the population age 15 to 45 had used the drug.

Wellington Hospital emergency physician and drug expert Paul Quigley said P was being sold as ecstasy as it had wider appeal as a party drug and could usually be sold for more.

"You can show people a pill and they'll go, 'Oh, it's ecstasy', and it's not. It could be anything. It could be ketamine, it could be milk powder, it could be Ajax.

"There is no such thing as the Consumer Guarantees Act for buying pills off some bloke in a leather jacket in an alleyway."

He said when authorities carried out a drugs bust it did not deter manufacturers. "They just start making any old rubbish, whatever they've got surplus of, press it into a nice tablet, add some food colouring and put a symbol on it and everyone thinks it's 'E'."

Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said people now appeared to be more inclined towards stimulants, rather than relaxing drugs such as cannabis.

Mr Bell called on police to make substance information available to potential drug users in a "discrete manner" such as advertising in nightclub toilets and educating bar managers.

THE MYTH OF ECSTASY

According to Dr Quigley, pure ecstasy is a myth.

When it burst on to the scene in the 1970s it was pure MDMA and its reputation as an uncomplicated party drug exploded. However, once MDMA was made illegal in the late 1970s, ecstasy's make-up changed.

The legend of the "round shiny tablet with a logo on it" had grown out of proportion.

"It's an image," he said.

Ingredients such as Ajax, a cleaning product, and paracetomol have been used in order to help press the powder into pills.

Dr Quigley said P being sold as ecstasy is not new to medical professionals - it has a wider appeal as a party drug and could be sold for more.

It also opens up a new market - affluent professionals rather than P addicts - and is used as a gateway drug, with dealers then encouraging regular customers to try other drugs.

Dr Quigley said methamphetamine use appeared to be decreasing as a result of concerted police efforts and bad press, but along with increased ecstasy use was also being replaced by hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD.

"If you go on a bad LSD trip it's not at all good. They're really, truly frightening," he said.

Along with LSD, new designer drugs such as mephedrone were appearing, which health experts had little or no knowledge about.

Home-based chemistry labs were being used to make new drugs such as synthetic cannabis and capsicum-based hallucinogens, Dr Quigley said.

This was concerning as party drugs had generally been developed in the first instance to target specific health problems, he said.

Viagra, for example was originally developed to treat angina but it eventually became used to treat erectile dysfunction. BZP was experimented with as a way to treat depression and vets trialled it to treat worms in animals.

Health authorities therefore had data and information about the drugs and there intended or unintended effects.

As people developed drugs specifically for recreational use there was no laboratory analysis and "that's caught everyone by surprise", he said.

[PD.]

so they DO call it P over there. A mate was there recently and was goin on about the crap, how good it was etc. Shit cost a ridiculous amount there tho.

Dr Quigley dont sound like much of a Dr at all lol.

[AndyAmine.]

Ajax as a binder for pills... that basically makes a young person who reads the article think its all bullshit, which is a shame when some of it has realistic warnings like the dangers of RC's.

Edited December 15, 2009 by AndyAmine.

[alkatrope]

Ecstacy pills aren't always pure MDMA? Who would've thought?!

[Smiling Cloud]

What drugs are made from capsicum?

[kindness]

I didn't think P was meth? I thought it was something else... When I visited NZ recently there was heaps of press about P. If anybody has seen the cartoon bro-town there was even an episode on that where one of the characters gets on 'upside down b' lol i.e p

ajax as a binder for pills.. <sigh>

edit: okay so 'P' is a nickname for meth unique to NZ... didn't know that.

Edited December 14, 2009 by meanies

[Chiral]

What drugs are made from capsicum?

 

mmmm I think they have meant pepper...

BZP or benzyl piperazine, occuring naturally in black pepper along with piperine, is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant much like methamphetamine, except very legal and relatively safe. It's why really peppery foods can give you a bit of a buzz as. (Tangent: I've heard of have been documented cases of people being addicted to excessive black pepper on food.

[C_T]

I thought P was short for BZP...

[FungalFractoids]

I thought P was short for BZP...

 

Nope. It's the "P" for "Pure", bro

[t st tantra]

snu's book says octopamine and an unided alkaloid were found in capsicum leaves.

some tryptamine is thought by some to be in rotted capsicum.

t s t .

[AndyAmine.]

Ahh Fungal you beat me too it, sort of.

I wrote a long ass post just after Chirals and I guess the browser crashed, luckily Im used to it happening and I wrote it out on notepad which I routinely save as I type, so here it is:

Yeah probably a mix up, in the USA they call a capsicum a 'pepper' so they prolly got confused.

From what I was told by a Kiwi mate 'P' is short for 'Pure', and 'Pure' is/was a common name in NZ/Tas/Aus for strong speed (although at that time rarely anything abover 80%)

The term 'pure' was mainly used when cut speed was common and particularly during the period of swap over between speed (sold in 1gm units) to less cut speed sold as a point, (then within a few years 'Ice' took over)

Unlike Aust however, the name 'P' stuck and is still used.

Now that ICE is less common or very poor quality in OZ, from what I hear 'pure' is back to being the ducks nuts again, so the name is also making a come back over ice.

While on the subject, I find to treuly amazing the way the purity of Meth and the route of admin can cause such drasticly different effects, both in the high, the duration and the side effects. Back in my partying days cut speed was hardly ever a major issue of addiction for most but once Ice and smoking it came along BAM.

Meth makes the whole decriminalization debate such a tricky one as it really does cause SO much damage so quickly.

That said, I truly believe a lot of it has to do with preconceptions of addiction and of what to expect from WD's, for example if you tell people that ICE is the most addictive substance on earth (as they have been) and that WD's are excruciating and need in-house detox then what are people going to believe?

Just like the current direction publicity towards nicotine addiction is going, they are all telling us that its a hopeless battle without replacement therapy or medication etc.

1/2 of it is bullshit, the human mind is far more powerful than it is ever given credit for by these people.