Dangerous ecstasy-meth pills flooding into U.S. from Canada
Dangerous ecstasy-meth pills flooding into U.S. from Canada
January 03, 2008
Dave Battagello, CanWest News Service
WINDSOR, Ont. -- Canadian-made ecstasy pills laced with crystal meth are being dumped into the U.S., prompting the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to issue a warning Thursday.
"Certainly we are very concerned about this combo product coming south," said a top official from the Washington office who asked not to be named. "Since this product is popular among the young, it's out there near schools and neighbourhoods. We need people to know this (combined) drug is much more dangerous."
More than 55% of the ecstasy samples seized in the U.S. last year contained methamphetamine, according to the policy office.
Drug enforcement authorities in the U.S. have been working with the RCMP to learn of the origins of the ecstasy-meth combo pills, he said. Both countries have had labs analyze recent drug seizures of the pills.
"It is a significant and large-scale problem and something we are very worried about," the U.S. official said.
John Walters, director of the drug control policy office, called the "extreme ecstasy" a disturbing development.
"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," he said on Thursday. "Desperate to develop their client base, they are dangerously altering a product for which demand by youth and young adults had plummeted and are exploiting vulnerabilities along our shared border.
"This is alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United States."
The drug combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy can have severe health consequences, as both have toxic effects on the brain, according to policy office. Together the drugs can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature, leading to hyperthermia -- which can result in liver, kidney, cardiovascular system failure and death.
The potential for a life-threatening or fatal overdose is further increased when meth-laced ecstasy is combined with alcohol.
Despite the U.S. warning, the combination of ecstasy and meth on Windsor's streets has not yet been a noticeable problem, according to a Windsor police officer in the drugs, intelligence and guns unit.
Ecstasy has not been much of a problem in Windsor as it has become much more lucrative for traffickers to instead sell in the U.S. where a single pill fetches between $30 and $50 -- up to 10 times the rate on this side of the border, he said.
"It is easier to get the precursors to make the drug in Canada," the Windsor officer said. "It is used here, but when we seize it, there are usually five or 10 pills. The most was 10,000. It gets shipped to [the U.S.] because they can get so much more for it."
China and India have been identified as being nearly the exclusive producers of the chemicals needed to make the street pills, said the U.S. drug authority.
"The chemicals are smuggled into Canada we believe primarily by Asian organized groups," he said. "You have criminal groups with ties to those countries who get the raw ingredients across the border to Canada and that has caused problems for both [Canada and U.S.] populations."
The RCMP estimates that the current combined production capacity of Canadian ecstasy laboratories exceeds two million tablets per week.
Law enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Canada border report large increases in the flow of ecstasy from Canada into the U.S.
In 2003, 568,220 dosage units of ecstasy were seized federally in the northern border states; in 2006, over 5.4 million dosage units were seized.
http://tinyurl.com/2vonh2
January 03, 2008
Dave Battagello, CanWest News Service
WINDSOR, Ont. -- Canadian-made ecstasy pills laced with crystal meth are being dumped into the U.S., prompting the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to issue a warning Thursday.
"Certainly we are very concerned about this combo product coming south," said a top official from the Washington office who asked not to be named. "Since this product is popular among the young, it's out there near schools and neighbourhoods. We need people to know this (combined) drug is much more dangerous."
More than 55% of the ecstasy samples seized in the U.S. last year contained methamphetamine, according to the policy office.
Drug enforcement authorities in the U.S. have been working with the RCMP to learn of the origins of the ecstasy-meth combo pills, he said. Both countries have had labs analyze recent drug seizures of the pills.
"It is a significant and large-scale problem and something we are very worried about," the U.S. official said.
John Walters, director of the drug control policy office, called the "extreme ecstasy" a disturbing development.
"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," he said on Thursday. "Desperate to develop their client base, they are dangerously altering a product for which demand by youth and young adults had plummeted and are exploiting vulnerabilities along our shared border.
"This is alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United States."
The drug combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy can have severe health consequences, as both have toxic effects on the brain, according to policy office. Together the drugs can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature, leading to hyperthermia -- which can result in liver, kidney, cardiovascular system failure and death.
The potential for a life-threatening or fatal overdose is further increased when meth-laced ecstasy is combined with alcohol.
Despite the U.S. warning, the combination of ecstasy and meth on Windsor's streets has not yet been a noticeable problem, according to a Windsor police officer in the drugs, intelligence and guns unit.
Ecstasy has not been much of a problem in Windsor as it has become much more lucrative for traffickers to instead sell in the U.S. where a single pill fetches between $30 and $50 -- up to 10 times the rate on this side of the border, he said.
"It is easier to get the precursors to make the drug in Canada," the Windsor officer said. "It is used here, but when we seize it, there are usually five or 10 pills. The most was 10,000. It gets shipped to [the U.S.] because they can get so much more for it."
China and India have been identified as being nearly the exclusive producers of the chemicals needed to make the street pills, said the U.S. drug authority.
"The chemicals are smuggled into Canada we believe primarily by Asian organized groups," he said. "You have criminal groups with ties to those countries who get the raw ingredients across the border to Canada and that has caused problems for both [Canada and U.S.] populations."
The RCMP estimates that the current combined production capacity of Canadian ecstasy laboratories exceeds two million tablets per week.
Law enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Canada border report large increases in the flow of ecstasy from Canada into the U.S.
In 2003, 568,220 dosage units of ecstasy were seized federally in the northern border states; in 2006, over 5.4 million dosage units were seized.
http://tinyurl.com/2vonh2
bin66 - 5. Jan, 01:51
