ECSTASY CON: IT'S THE UNREAL THING

Ecstasy is touted as the risk-free, feel-good drug of the world's thriving
dance and club scene. Deaths are relatively rare, and official figures
suggest the use of the drug is widespread.

According to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, about 5 per
cent of Australians over 14 have tried ecstasy - but the alarming fact is
that most of these people have taken nothing of the sort.

According to the Victorian police drug squad, less than 10 per cent of the
"ecstasy" on the Australian market comes from overseas. The real thing -
likely to be these imported tablets - generally contains MDMA. The
remaining 90-plus per cent is Australian made and the chances of a locally
made tablet containing even a trace of ecstasy are negligible.

Most users don't realise that almost all of the ecstasy tablets made in
Australia are imitations of the real thing. And in a country where real
ecstasy is in short supply, Australian users are swallowing thousands of
the fake product, paying $40 to $60 for a pill made from a hotchpotch of
pharmaceutical ingredients, often in dangerous combinations.

"These people do not know what they're taking," says Detective Senior
Sergeant Jeff Maher of the drug squad. "We get these tablets analysed quite
regularly and were quite shocked to see what's in some of them. (Users are)
purchasing what they believe to be ecstasy, taking these things on face
value that they're a safe drug.

"They're not safe at all. They're produced by criminals in some of the most
horrendous and unhygienic conditions, from cocktails of chemicals."

Cate Quinn, manager of the drug branch at the Victorian Forensic Science
Centre, says there has been a change from the early days when all ecstasy
was imported. "The seizures we saw were true ecstasy," he said. "There have
been attempts to manufacture ecstasy in Australia, but it's very rare that
we bust an illegal lab that's manufacturing ecstasy rather than
methylamphetamine. Australia does not supply its own ecstasy market."

The forensic centre analyses tablets seized across the state, as well as
seizures by customs, federal police and private prisons. Quinn estimates
that "probably less than 5 or even 2per cent contain real MDMA". The real
stuff, what Quinn calls "true" as opposed to "fraudulent" ecstasy, is
usually imported from Holland and Britain.

"I have not come across a manufacturer in Australia who has produced MDMA,"
confirms Detective Senior Constable Matt Bunning of the drug squad. "More
than 90per cent is made here, and isn't really ecstasy. Most of it's
amphetamines, but we recently came across heroin, cocaine and amphetamines
together in one pill."

Ecstasy is sometimes sold as a powder (in a bag or capsule), but it is more
commonly seen as a tablet stamped with a symbol or logo that helps users
recognise different brands. "(Pill producers) put designs on them. You'll
say `I tried one of those pink elephants, it was great, I want to get one
of them again'," says Bunning.

Local producers hear about a popular, high-quality tablet doing the rounds
of overseas clubs. They then copy the design of this original tablet,
capitalising on its reputation by making a pill that looks identical but
contains no MDMA.

"You might read on the Internet that the moon design is a great new
ecstasy," says Quinn. "But by the time that moon hits Australia, local
producers have mimicked it."

The rise in ecstasy's popularity has been a boon for local speed producers
looking to maximise their earnings, says Bunning. "People who have
previously sold speed have found that if they buy a pill press they can
turn $10 worth of speed into a $50 pill. The market is prepared to pay a
lot more for a tablet.

"Tablets can be sold in clubs to people who don't really think of
themselves as drug users," says Quinn.

So what's in these tablets? Amphetamine is the main ingredient, says Quinn,
"but in an attempt to mimic some of the effects of real ecstasy - euphoria,
increased energy, pleasurable rushes, feelings of empathy, dreaminess and a
hallucinogenic-like glow - producers of the fake pills typically combine
various stimulants, hallucinogens and sedatives, depending on what
chemicals they have access to."

In recent years, analysis of Australian-made tablets has revealed a sharp
rise in the use of the veterinary anaesthetic Ketamine, says Quinn.

"We've been tracking it since the end of 1997. It's very common." She says
that in humans, the tranquilliser can cause coma-related problems,
depending on the dose, where people just don't wake up.

"We're also seeing paracetamol; the stimulants pseudoephedrine and
ephedrine; and heroin, codeine and cocaine all mixed up in the one tablet.
And we've found tiny pieces of LSD tickets pressed inside tablets.

"We're finding benzodiazepines Temazepam, Diazepam, and Rohypnol, which are
all sedatives. There's sometimes caffeine. We've also found Promethazine, a
motion-sickness medication, which makes you feel woozy, cloudy, dissociated."

Quinn says the appearance of a tablet containing MDMA is no different from
one made of speed. "The better-looking tablet is not necessarily superior."

The vigilance of Australian customs probably has an indirect effect on the
situation: since customs first identified ecstasy as a separate category of
drug in 1994-95, both smuggling attempts and customs seizures have risen
steadily. In 1995-96 there were 78 seizures, yielding 31.4 kilograms of
ecstasy, says Leon Bedington, director of corporate communications at
Australian Customs. In 1996-97 there were 133 seizures, netting 69
kilograms, and in 1999-2000 105 seizures collected 144 kilograms of the drug.

The use of multiple drugs is particularly risky, says Quinn. "Some drugs
negate each other or cancel each other out; some drugs compound the effects
of others."

While some users don't know or don't care what they're taking as long as it
keeps them awake, others are steering clear of buying pills with
increasingly uncertain effects. "These days most of it's rubbish," says
Jenny, 24. "I don't bother taking one now unless I know it's real ecstasy.
I've taken so many dodgy pills that have wrecked my whole night."