Ecstasy users in jeopardy as deaths increase

Ecstasy users are facing increased threats from tablets which, in the main, are purer and stronger but, in an unknown number of cases, are contaminated with toxic amphetamine chemicals.

The EU drugs agency has said the dangers are a result of changes in the raw materials that criminal gang “cookers” are using.

Amphetamines such as PMA and PMMA are suspected by both gardaí and health officials of resulting in a spate of deaths in recent weeks, on the back of other fatalities in 2013 and 2012.

The death of a 22-year-old in Donegal last Monday has been linked to a brown tablet known as ‘Double Cross’. Gardaí are awaiting toxicology results but suspect PMA, or its close chemical relative PMMA, was involved.

Gardaí said three deaths in recent weeks have been connected to these drugs. Another four recent deaths are also under investigation.

These deaths have been linked to green ‘Rolex’ and ‘Apple’ tablets and white ‘Mitsubishi’ pills.

Gardaí do not yet know how extensive these rogue batches are but suspect they are circulating nationally. They have recorded eight separate finds of these tablets, including in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Clare, and Westmeath.

Roumen Sedefov, head of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), told the Irish Examiner the inclusion of PMA and PMMA in ecstasy tablets could be due to the use of precursors —the raw material that make the chemicals — instead of precursors for MDMA, the standard ecstasy chemical.

“Those precursors [for PMA/PMMA] are not controlled internationally,” said Mr Sedefov. “As a result they are lower risk for manufacturers [who import them] and they are cheaper and more available.”

Mr Sedefov said it could be the case that manufacturers do not know for sure what precursors they are using.

“Very often, the people producing may not be aware of the exact precursors they are using or may mix different ones,” he said.

PMA/PMMA pose a two-fold threat. “They have a late onset: People believing it is ecstasy don’t get the effect as soon as they expect and redose, leading to overdosing,” said Mr Sedefov.

“These substances also have, in general, enhanced toxicity. So you have the typical increased heart rate, increased body temperature and cardio-vascular effects, but much more pronounced.”

In addition to the presence of these substances in ecstasy tablets, EMCDDA has also seen the re-emergence of “high-quality ecstasy powders and pills”.

“The normal amount, and I use that word generally, of MDMA in tablets was about 75mg, now it’s as high as 120-150mg, which can pose dangers,” said Mr Sedefov.

Two of the largest ever ecstasy plants in Europe were busted in Belgium in 2013.

Limerick gardaí found an ecstasy manufacturing plant, along with 150,000 tablets, last April. Soon after, 76,000 tablets were seized in Dublin. Seizures of ecstasy have risen substantially, with more than 500,000 tablets seized in 2013.