Dirty pills beg for legalisation
According to the Federal Police, ecstasy in Australia is being laced with crude adulterants including glass, rat poison, and more dangerous drugs such as heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.
While I question how often this is really occurring, can there be a better argument for regulating this drug’s manufacture and sale in this country?
Australia is one of the world’s highest per capita consumers of ecstasy, yet we are among the furthest away from the countries producing it, meaning street prices here are also among the highest.
For unscrupulous drug bosses, this makes for a powerful incentive to deceive users by passing off whatever they can for the drug in order to make big profits.
The exorbitant price has also encouraged many users to switch to the cheaper yet far more dangerous GHB, seen as an ecstasy substitute by many and perhaps the biggest killer on the Australian club scene.
Yet despite 1.5 million Australians having tried the drug, and close to 100,000 pills being consumed nationwide each weekend, few will ever see the inside of a hospital, let alone a morgue, because of their ecstasy use.
According to the Government’s own statistics, of the 600,000 Australians currently using the drug, less than nine percent use it more than weekly. For most it’s a drug for special occasions, saved for a long weekend or a close friend’s birthday party.
Compare that to marijuana, the drug usually featured in calls for legalisation, where daily use is the norm.
Even providing legal heroin to addicts gets more of a mention.
But consider its known dampening effect on levels of street violence, and ecstasy is probably the most suitable drug for legalisation, not the least.
Victoria’s new Police Commissioner Simon Overland is a brave man for stating his openness on the subject of legalisation.
Few could attack his credibility, as he spent 19 years as a federal police officer before leading the Purana Taskforce which brought drug criminals Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel to trial.
If a police officer of his stature has questions about the merits of locking up users, then we all should. Unfortunately, Overland is a law enforcer, not a lawmaker.
Among Australian politicians only the South Australian Democrat Sandra Kanck has had the courage to call for ecstasy, specifically, to be legalised.
She retired from politics in 2008 after being hounded by the tabloids.
christian-hypocrite, you need to read this.
lolz…nurse! bring the medication trolley!
. . . .na dont worry about it just throw em drugs into you . . . who cares if u die or get permanent major organ damage that will ruin your life . If u fukd up enuf to do drugs then just go and drop dead !
It is true that it is near impossible to die from LSD poisoning Jordan, but this is because the drug is so powerful that a person would die from sheer terror (from shock or heart attack) before they ever approached a toxic dose.
LSD may also be a problematic drug for people who’ve suffered traumas or have low self esteem, as their fears and doubts may manifest themselves through their hallucinations. It was for this reason that the drug proved useful in a clinical setting for the treatment of neurosis- but without a doctor present, that can often be a dangerous outcome.
Personally, I think LSD should be legal, but probably come highly rationed and definitely with a sh*tload of warning labels. If people really want to have vivid hallucinations I think salvia divinorum is a better drug for the simple reason that the hallucinations come and go in a matter of minutes, as opposed to the 8 hour trip that is LSD- and once you’re on that bus, there’s no getting off till the end.
Since when is LSD more dangerous than MDMA?
Andrew – the last sentence of your article suggests SA Democrat MP Sandra Kanck was hounded out of office because of her (sensible) stance on drug reform.
This is not true.
Yes Sandra Kanck was ridiculed by the press for her stance on this issue – but her decision to recently retire was primarily based on her desire to hand over to new Democrat MP David Winderlich… to give him enough time to establish himself in the seat so that the Democrats could retain it at the next SA election.
Very refreshing to read. Spot on.
The point, Terry, is that hundreds of queens will be buying drugs for this weekend, that’s never going to change. And when they read that ‘ecstasy in Australia is being laced with crude adulterants including glass, rat poison, etc’ they’re going to be thinking, “ZOMG, I better buy some alternative, like ice or ghb.” Which is why I suggest they check/test the E they’re buying and understand that the alternatives are MUCH more dangerous.
Yes, Shayne, common sense.
The facts are facts regardless of your views. Ecstasy in it’s pure form, MDMA in moderation is relatively harmless. Apart from over hydration, the main cause of harm are the added contaminates. They only exist because of prohibition and the lack of “honesty and accuracy about the recreational drugs they are using”.
True Shayne, however it’s known annecdotally when there’s a good batch going around, local syndicates will sometimes brand their pills to look similar to capitalise on the rep and without professional manufacturing standards there will always be differences in strength within any batch.
If people are going to use Ecstasy its probably better for them to take a half pill first and leave it for an hour so that they can judge the strength before taking any more- particularly if they’re buying from a stranger in a club type environment.
If they start to experience non-typical symptoms such as drowsiness or hallucination, then that’s an indication that they may have been sold a substitute drug- and if it’s PMA or similar it could be quite dangerous to consume any more.
Never hesitate to seek medical assistance if you (or a friend) begin to feel unwell.
Under normal circumstances (and when it is actual MDMA that’s being consumed) the biggest issues to keep in mind are that MDMA effects the body’s ability to rid itself of excess fluids and raises body temperature, so don’t drink excessively, don’t over exert yourself, keep out of the heat and be very careful about mixing it with other drugs.
“Common sense “? Are you being ironic, Terry Wright ? Ecstasy was considered by that body of experts as less dangerous than 1. Heroin 2. Cocaine 3. Barbiturates 4. Street methadone 5. Alcohol 6. Ketamine 7. Benzodiazepines 8. Amphetamine 9. Tobacco 10. Buprenorphine 11. Cannabis 12. Solvents 13. 4-MTA 14. LSD 15. Methylphenidate 16. Anabolic steroids and 17. GHB.
There was no mention of how dangerous hyperbolae might be.
Cigarette smoke contains about 4000 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens like arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, cadmium, polonium, chromium, tar etc.
Crystal meth is made from red phosphorous, ammonia, paint thinner, ether, Drano and the lithium from batteries, iodine crystals, propane and lye, muriatic acid, etc…it has become a dependency issue for 2 out of three regular users and a third of them experience psychotic episodes.
Ecstasy? Meh. Just like the HIV/AIDS education in this town, what the community really needs is a little honesty and accuracy about the recreational drugs they are using.
Well written Andrew, I could not have said it better myself.
A recent article in The Lancet medical journal ranked ecstasy at number 18 out of 20 of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. The research was by psychiatrists specialising in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise.
The media and political hysteria about ecstasy is disgraceful considering we live in the 21st century. As we know, the main reason for harm from ecstasy is prohibition itself allowing pills to be cut with non MDMA ingredients.
It’s also refreshing that you give some perspective to the frequency of use. Much of the public just see “DRUGS” and think of shooting up 2-3 times a day in a frenzy of addiction. The reality is, ecstasy use is mostly for special occasions or weekends.
We need more common sense media articles like this.
Well done.
Bluelight, Pillreports, EcstasyData etc. are cosponsored by groups like Erowid, (who manage the ongoing pill testing programmes,) the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and DanceSafe which also provide their pill testing results to seed the database. They publish on a number of sites, some include local content, some are also reliant on user input, they’ve been around since 2001 and are probably better options than scaring users into taking more harmful drugs by speculating about what might be in their pills.
Thanks for the link Shayne, now if only it wasn’t up to users to be the guinea pigs…
Ecky users can check what they are buying/taking here: