New drug hitting USA: Extreme Ecstacy

January 9, 2008

Agents warn of new drug hitting USA: Extreme Ecstasy - Which can be fatal

http://www.africancrisis.co.za/Article.php?ID=21171 & Date Posted: Saturday 05-Jan-2008 [in South Africa, back in 1998 or thereabouts, 40,000 children (mostly white) were addicted to ecstasy. The drug dealers marketed it as a "safe drug". It was associated with raves. I told the story the other day of the "rich kid" whose email I copied and handed it over to the Police who then subsequently used it to infiltrate the drug crowd in S.Africa. Many were arrested and for a time the supplies of ecstasy to SA were cut off. That kid told me all about the raves and the drug dealers and also these "DJ's". These DJ's at the raves are also part of the scene. There is a whole organised crime thing. Now the drug dealers in SA got so bold that they printed out pamphlets called "Rave Safe" - because you can die if you, for example, take alcohol with ecstasy, or if you dehydrate or have a weak heart. I was lent a copy of one of those pamphlets and am sorry I never made a copy. But basically the Rave Safe pamphlets were all about how to do illegal drugs SAFELY. It also gave advice on what to do if the Police catch you, etc. The Drug dealers would organise massive raves, and would make tons of money.Some drug dealers also end up getting impurities, etc into the drugs - which can also be dangerous, and then you get these freaks who mix in their own mixtures!!The massive ecstasy crowd seems to be pretty much gone these days - or at least I've not heard of them in years now. Ecstasy was marketed as this "safe drug", which I was skeptical about. Then years later they discovered that ecstasy is actually extremely dangerous because it causes long term BRAIN DAMAGE.So this new, ecstasy I can quite imagine must be extremely dangerous. I had bad experiences with co-workers and drugs. After working with that kid, I ended up in another company of about 30 people where the culture was a DRUG CULTURE. Almost everyone was doing drugs. It took me quite a while to figure it out. It was not so obvious at first.A best friend of mine, an Afrikaner, was a Christian and a really nice guy. Then he left South Africa to go to Holland, saying he would never return. 4 years later he returned from Holland and I did not recognise him. He had long hair, had abandoned Christianity and religion altogether, and was into drugs. Later when I was unemployed, he saved me. He saved me big time when I could find no work. But the company he was working in had this drug culture. Since he had saved me, I never turned him in to the Police. But I hated the company and I hated what I saw. Later, when I finally got a chance, after 2 1/2 years, I switched over to another company where I got less money but I felt happier. My best friend and I were no longer best friends. But since he had saved me from being unemployed for a very long time, I never stabbed him in the back. But I was glad when I could move on by myself. During that period, I saw and heard the most amazing things about hard core drug users.Although there are no physical signs one can see when a person takes cocaine, I reckon I can spot a regular cocaine user. Cocaine makes people very over confident, loud and boastful. Arguing with them is a pointless exercise.I remember one day he was talking to some people about a brand new drug he had tried the night before. He was saying to people that when he took the drug he lost all the feeling in his legs! These people play with death I tell you. And they will argue with you at length that they are not ADDICTED to drugs like cocaine. "I can stop any time I want!" they say. My views remain as before. I still think drug manufacturers, drug mules and drug sellers should be executed. It was only the fact that this guy had been my best friend, and I had once helped him when he was in deep trouble and he had helped me when I was in deep trouble, that I turned a blind eye to matters. But I must tell you, it was a matter that did not rest lightly with me. I could have turned a lot of people in for doing drugs. Unlike with that kid though, I would not have had hard evidence. Also, unlike with the kid, I could not give any leads that would have led to drug dealers. But I knew the people were drug users. And if I did do it, rest assured, I'd have lost my job. Later that company folded anyway of its own accord, and I managed to get another job in a more normal environment and I was glad to see the drug users moving off to new pastures. After I had seen this other side to my former best friend, he and I quietly parted company. It was sad to see. I saw a *LOT* I did not like at all I will tell you, and all these people were white people too. But such is life. You see plenty you never bargained for. Jan]Federal officials say 'extreme Ecstasy' is a potent drug laced with methamphetamines.Santiago Esparza / The Detroit NewsFederal agents are targeting a turbo-charged form of Ecstasy that is gaining in popularity, fearing it will lead to fatal overdoses similar to ones experienced a few years ago caused by heroin mixed with fentanyl. Michigan and nine other states along Canada's border would see the first wave of any such overdoses, and officials are warning that the so-called "extreme Ecstasy," which is mixed with methamphetamines, is becoming a problem. "They (drug dealers) are remarketing and packaging it and trying to glamorize it," said Scott Burns, deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We just went through this issue with fentanyl. We learned a lot of things from that. We have to get on it early and get on it aggressively." Lax views toward drug use in Canada, coupled with successes scored by U.S. agents against European Ecstasy producers and smugglers, have fueled the problem, Burns said. Federal agents seized about 5.4 million dosage units of Ecstasy in the 10 states near the Canadian border in 2006, up dramatically from the 568,000 units seized in 2003, according to statistics from Burns' office. About 55 percent of the units had methamphetamines in them, Burns said. Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials do not dispute that their country has seen an increase in Ecstasy production or smuggling. They said 5.2 million units smuggled in from Canada were seized in the United States in 2004, up from 1.1 million in 2004, according to data collected with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, RCMP officials said. RCMP officials could not say how much of what was seized had methamphetamines. "Prior to the past few years, we were seeing drugs brought into Canada," said RCMP Corporal Cathy McCrory. "We have taken the unsavory title of exporter of this drug." Richard Isaacson, special DEA agent and public information officer for the Detroit field division, said it is too early to call extreme Ecstasy a problem in Michigan. But he said there is no denying that Ecstasy is coming into the country in droves through Canada. "This is one of the major routes Ecstasy is making its way into the U.S.," he said, noting the Detroit office handles Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. "It needs to be understood that Ecstasy on its own is a dangerous, potentially fatal drug. People have died from ecstasy. Mixing it with another hallucinogen you are going to exacerbate the damage." Burns said federal drug officials now will warn medical facilities, drug treatment sites and others to get the word out. "This is a public health issue," Burns said.Source URL: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/METRO/801040374Posted By: JanAfricanCrisis WebmasterAuthor of: Government by DeceptionReaders' Comments

Date Posted: Tuesday 08-Jan-2008If somebody misunderstand me, my comment was triggerd by Aaron, not Jan.Scaremongery does not work and stop getting stuck on that. I look at real facts, people who have been there, how they end up there, those that are still alive, the lucky ones.I do put this in the same mindset as people that go for a gunfree dream, or target. Those that say crime in SA is just a perception. and those that believe that to rape a child, or garlic and beetroot will cure AIDS.GrazyPretoriaSouth Africa

Date Posted: Tuesday 08-Jan-2008Sorry Grazy, I didn't mean to come across as harsh, we're all just everyday people trying to get by, we need to come together as one people to educate each other and help each other to build a better future.Where as nicotine and alcohol are both big issues as far as social damages are concerned their are even more insideous and dangerous problems which people are even less aware of, the use of aluminums in deodarants, artificial colourings and flavourings, pcps in plastics which leek into foods and our drinking water, flouride etc... etc...I'll make a few examples so you know what i'm talking about, lets take flouride for example. Their are two common forms of flouride, sodium flouride and flouride phosphate, where as flouride phosphate occurs naturally in nature and has been observed to improve teeth anamal sodium flouride is incredably poisonous and can build up in the system, sodium flouride does not improve teeth anamal, infact it causes damage to teeth and in high enough concentration can kill a full grown adult, it is the main ingrediant in syrin gas, a deadly biological warfare agent. It is sodium flouride which is used in water supplys and tooth paste, theres also research to suggest that it can effect peoples mood, breaking down their ability for individual reason and making them more suggestable.Another example is artifical sweetners, Aspertame, also known as nutra-sweet is incredably carcenogenic, and has been linked to being the cause of severe physical reactions. Another artificial flavouring is high-fructose corn syrup, refered to by nutritionists as 'liquid satan', this is used in most common products not using aspertame, for example it is used in coca cola to mask the horiable chemical taste. It has no nutritional value and is linked to obesity and poor health.The use of wi-fi, electromagnetic emissions, political exploitation of it's citizens, sunscreens etc.. etc... Theres a whole world of things out there to be worried about and to get worked up about, far more important than personal and ethnic use of narcotics, people who use these drugs seriously for more than just short term experimentation tend to know more about them than anybody else and tend to do the research.I don't have the time to provide resources for these issues but a quick internet search will quickly provide links to articles and reports on these things. Thats the beauty of the internet, it allows you to view both sides so you can make up your own mind. Dont take my word for it, I don't want you to agree with me, but I would like you to accept my right to my own beliefs and personal practices as long as they dont cause you personal physical damage or deprive you of personal property. Otherwise why should I not be allowed to do what I want with my own life.I understand in a country like South Africa peoples access to resources ie. information and technology is restricted by means, but thats why NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations) should be formed to allow all people the same access to impartial information.Cheers everybody, I'm really enjoying this free exchange of information.Aaron JamesOtepotiAotearoa

Date Posted: Tuesday 08-Jan-2008Pure Ecstasy which is very difficult to find now before it became illegal was used by some therapist with great results. So at first I would have classified its use more as medicinal then just a party drug. But lets face it drugs, legal and illegal along with addiction is big business both for the suppliers, legal and illegal ones, the dealers or salesmen, DEA, the prisons, drug rehab the list goes on and on. Why else would the US government make a natural substance called Ibogaine which has an 80% success rate of curing drug addiction illegal? If this substance is so dangerous why is the US one of only 4 countries in the world that it is illegal? But it is a very dangerous substance that is for the big business legal or illegal connected with drug addiction.Thomas

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008I'm sorry to point this out to you, but methamphetamine has been added to ecstasy pills for years, allong with all sorth of other illicit drugs. This IS NOT A NEW DRUG, the addition of meth in pills is simply happening more frequently. You will find that it is TIK that is the same substance (if TIK is crystal meth, i don't know I am not in SA) But I agree, scare mongering and misinformation is not the way to go. I will have you know also "rave safe" is an actual organisation which gives impartial information about these drugs and partying in HOPE to minimise potential harm.you may think this is stupid, but the truth is people take drugs....lots of them. Whether they be legal, illegal or pharmaceutical, it happens everywhere. Not just in USA, SA Australia etc.The work of rave safe has been very valued in some countries as it helps inform the people who have no access to this information. Kids (hopefully not too young) have always experimented (with drugs, sexuality etc) in the past and will continue to do so in the future. How much potential harm they face is up to you/us, in educating them. This doesn't mean you educate about the side effects only. They need to be aware of why people do drugs, how it affect society, the people around them and the legalities of the matter etc. Only then can they make an informed decision, and trust me they will make a decision on the matter no matter how much they are berrated about how bad these drugs are. Some will take your word for it, Most will not....trust me, most will not if they find you have misinformed them (which they will).I will tell you why:Your children are bound to come across impartial information about drugs and their effects. Probably more information than you would wish they read or more than you would give yourself. So on one hand we have protective, loving parents scare mongering and on the other we have impartial information generally sanctioned by NGO's or even governments them selves.Your child is more likely to gravitate to the source of information that is not berating them with misinformation or horror stories. Once there, they will have all the information they need to start taking drugs "safely", and once they have their first positive non lethal experience, all that scare mongering will actually deteriorate any respect for your views on the matter (and quite likely many other views of yours) they had in the first place.It is up to you to make sure your child is not conflicted in what they know about drugs to be true from you and what is actually true.Especially in SA you need to look at educating your children, not misinforming them. I think that the effect of misinformation can be seen clearly with your country's AIDS epidemic, Where early misinformation and little preventative action was key to its now dominant status. Now with the stigma attached to being HIV positive ( which was perpetuated early on, and is believed to still be true by many), SA's preventative campaigns such as lovelife are highly ineffective. You dont want to start having to fix something like drug problems when its too late and half the populations young are doing drugs because they know what they learend from mum and dad to be untrue.Please also remember that Drug use among young (and older in some cases) can lead to risky sexual behavior such as unprotected sex. Please do not scaremonger your children lest you endanger them twofold.PARENTS PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELVES FIRST!!!for any one who may be searching for impartial information all localised on one easy page, please visit:http://www.erowid.org/It has users positive and negative stories, it has legal information, effects, side effects etc about the commonly and some uncommonly used drugs.But most of all it also has scientific work to back up any information it has provided you.Jan, I would like to finish in saying alcohol (and tobacco) does more damage to humans and to our societies than all of the illicit drugs combined. We just seem to accept it because it is legal. Governments around the world are AWARE of the indisputable facts that smoking is ADDICTIVE and causes all sorts of health problems including FATAL conditions, but yet allows the sale of them because it makes lots and lots of money from it. Alcohol's negative health issues will always be disputed that only abusers suffer ill consequences.FACT: There have been more deaths associated with these two drugs in every country of the world than from illicit drugs. Do you know people who smoke or drink (occasionally)? You should tell them about the statistics, and advise that it is inevitable that it is more likely they will die from complications relating to their habits or social pass times than they are from ecstasy.See how they react.chris

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008I'm not so well educated as can be seen from my spelling. I'm technical, therefore realistic.The drug dealers and sellers are not poor. Also not those who are the main criminals and those who are in bad social situations. They are the main targets maybe and therefore end up criminals to afford there drug needs. It will be O so easy to regulate the drugs produced and smuggled by some government. I am sarcastic here.There is the factor of group pressure on rebel teenage kids, propaganda about safe drugs. Fortunately we uneducated people have to solve day to day problems with our own creativity and do not have books writen by other people in wich they tell us how to solve problems.I am pissed off sir, but sir, just stop for a moment and look at reality, then start to think for yourself, and do not believe those you you want to impress so easy.Maybe it will be and great experiens for you.I beter shut up.GrazyPretoriaSuid Afrika

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008I live in the bottom of the South Island in a country called New Zealand, I have never and will never sell drugs, being an illegal market it is incredibly dangerous and not an incredibly fun lifestyle decision.For a start the main point I wanted to make is that fear mongering and mis-information only make these drugs more dangerous, educating people as to their safe socially responsible action and regulation makes sure they're free of dangerous additives and out of the hands of criminals.It's quite interesting to see peoples reactions to these kinds of things, the extreme views seem to come from people completely detached from the actual reality of the situation who have been feed on the same lies they propagate, they're arguments tend to be, well if you think they're good or valuable you MUST be a drug addict/dealer/criminal. Drugs my friend are not a moral issue i hate to tell you, they are a social issue, and dealing with them as such is the only responsible way of treating them.Their are so many holes in your badly educated argument I don't know where to start, in fact I'm not even going to address them.All I will say is that the war on drugs is being lost, it was never even being won to begin with, so why fight a war that the people don't want fought, that can't be won, that costs billions to fight a month. Crime is the result of bad education and socio-economic situation, the war on drugs keeps people in these lifestyles, drugs don't create killers or criminals, poverty does and bad lifestyle choices.The only sensible option, your going to love this, is regulation. Placing the supply and control of these narcotics in the hands of either the government or an independent body monitored by the government.What do you mean "live life for the natural buzz, not some tainted high which goes away and makes you feel terrible the day after. Smile.", are caffiene and chocolate not mood enhancers, what about alcohol. Where do we draw the line, who's to say what another human should be allowed to consume. Once you remove to social moral stigma, you remove the shame and fear which creates bad reactions to these drugs.The war on drugs only keeps people in poverty, and plus the government doesn't seem to mind importing cocaine to fund it's illegal operations, or dosing and supplying lsd to it's citizens if it can dis-stabalize it's peoples political agendas, or if it keeps poor black people on the streets. Just look into the cia's history of drug running, and the links between governments and the drug industry. Wise up.Personal choices are everybodys rights, not the rights of a few ultra-conservatives with a bad education to force their opinions on the reast of the world. Wise up and wake up.Aaron JamesOtepotiAotearoa

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008Drugs are bad Mkay.Yay lets all go out and put shit into our heads which alter our perception of reality. Is reality all that bad, is being in control not fun enough. I did beans for agesv and loved every minute of it, but now i can look back and think, why do i have to munch some chemical to make me have a good time. Unfortunately its for the kids and when you grow up you realise that being battered is not the be all and end all. When you look back on your life do you want to think, god im really glad i was a druggy who dod owt but get messed up. Live life for the natural buzz, not some tainted high which goes away and makes you feel terrible the day after. Smile.Ad MaherUK

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008Utter nonsense.There's plenty of reliable, impartial information out there on the internet and in books, and available through the medical profession. If you take this stance with your kids you'll alienate them and in all likelihood lead them into a life of drug-taking. Better to get informed and be honest with them, than to use this out-of-date sensationalist propanganda.I can't believe there are still people that think like this.ConcernedEngland

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008Hi Aaron,I suspect you are in the USA.You talk like a drug dealer my friend!!!Here is an article I published in 2004 showing new effects of ecstasy: Ecstasy affects memory, new international study showsAnd I will remind you that I have also seen studies which state that ecstasy leads to LONG TERM BRAIN DAMAGE.Other related ecstasy posts:-S.Africa: Gangster says he took ecstasy before shooting in court!!SA: Primary School Children use EcstasyI will post some new articles about Ecstasy causing brain damage. Here is a study by the National Institude on Drug Abuse stating that: ecstasy causes memory problems and results in Brain Damage: http://www.nida.nih.gov/nida_notes/NNVol14N4/...And here is a BBC news item on the link between ecstasy and brain damage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1076381.stmA fabulous book was written about the hidden dangers of all illegal drugs. The book was called: "Red Cocaine" and it was published in the USA.Anyone who tells you ecstasy is safe doesn't know what he's talking about. It also speeds up your heart rate, and if you have a weak heart or you get yourself dehydrated (because you suddenly have so much "energy") then you can die. People in South Africa have died from this - teenagers.Those who take "E" also told me that it improves ones sense of touch. They also refer to it as a "friendly" drug. Everyone is hugging and kissing (and screwing) each other too. So they all feel so "spiritual" - blah blah. I've heard all that. It is this sense of touch which it enhances which works on people's minds.I heard plenty about drugs from all these people I worked with who did drugs including these psychadelic drugs from the 1960's (I forget the name), which can affect you and make you hallucinate. So if you are in a foul mood when you take the drug you might see a green monster chasing you. As the "rich kid" told me, a man might jump out of a window and fall to his death. You might wonder why he did it but if he took those drugs he might have been running away from a "monster" that was chasing him. But ok, that is a different kind of drug that really messes with your mind.Ecstasy... which they went to extreme lengths to convince everyone was "safe" is far from it. It may fry your mind.Oh, and as a computer programmer, I also spent my time fixing a lot of program code written by people high on cocaine who pulled all-nighters! Trust me... cocaine may make them feel like Einstein but they're not half as good as they imagine themselves to be!The only people drug takers are fooling are themselves. Those drugs are illegal for good reasons, and let's keep it that way!!Jan LamprechtJohannesburgSouth Africa

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008The spreading of this kind of dis-information and fear mongering is one of the reasons for why drugs like ecstasy remain dangerous and the realm of dangerous illegal crime, mdma was originally created as a dietry supplement by scientists in 1912, it was then rediscovered in the 70s by chemist alexander shultz. It is not only safe but also a valuable psyciatric drug used by psycistrists to allow them to empathise with their patients. Complications with this drug occur if you have a heart condition or are badly educated about the effects, otherwise it is non psysiologically addictive. As with any other drug in countrys with good social policy it is proven that regulation is the safest and most sensible option as opposed to illegalistion. Pull your head out of the sand and look at history to see that the war on drugs is only one more way of removing human rights and placing control in the hands of the government. Only true liberation of humans rights will allow the safe and sensible usage of narcotics, there is no way to stop their use, NON. By denying ethno-narcotic use of chemicals we are denying human spirituality. Do some research before your ignorance kills more people. Education is the only true answer.Aaron JamesOtepotiAotearoa

Date Posted: Monday 07-Jan-2008I am all for drug abuse. It cleans up the gene poolChrisJohannesburgRSA

Date Posted: Sunday 06-Jan-2008Hi JanAt least my kid knows the yes and no's, and I believe she is relativly save on her own and with the kids she goes around with. Gess I'm lucky, but things can always go wrong fast.I've got a very good pps about drug use somewhere. If I find it, I will post it, bloody scary.GrazyPretoriaSuid Afrika

Date Posted: Sunday 06-Jan-2008These are terrible drugs. In the US, it tends to particularly affect the poor white rural population. Because of the very dangerous chemicals they contain, they lead to irreparable disfigurements (see picture) .Lars PlussSan Francisco CAUSA

Date Posted: Sunday 06-Jan-2008Hi Grazy,Watch your children. I don't know how the drug scene in this country is for kids at the moment. I hope it is better than it was then.SA is a huge drug trafficking route and has been ever since the ANC came to power. ANC and hard drugs go together. I suspect the ANC only does something about drugs when the USA or other powers have hard evidence and then tell them to act. Otherwise... they do nothing.Hi Mike,Yes, it is called TIK and it it heavily used especially by the coloureds in the Cape. It fries their minds badly. It is a hideous drug.Apparently the Chinese Triads have played a part in getting it here.It is the first time I've heard of drugs getting into the USA via Canada. How weird... What the hell is going on in Canada?Jan LamprechtJohannesburgSouth Africa

Date Posted: Saturday 05-Jan-2008Real friends don't always come in nice packaging.Thanks for the warning about that drug, always good to know what to watch out for. Especialy if you have teenage kids.GrazyPretoriaSuid Afrika

Date Posted: Saturday 05-Jan-2008Interesting article Jan, but the part about illegal drugs entering the US from Canada (or vice versa)isn't news in North America anymore. I still don't like the idea of a more powerful version of Ecstasy being available anywhere. A bigger problem in North America is crystal meth (I believe South Africans call it tic) which is made in portable labs out of peoples homes readily available almost anywhere and is highly dangerous.MikeUSA

January 9, 2008

Interesting to see Jan Lampretch on this article towards the end of the comments ............