METH FOUND IN B.C. ECSTASY

'A Dangerous Slope'

VANCOUVER - Methamphetamine has been found in 76% of pills seized as
Ecstasy at raves, clubs and dances in B.C.'s Lower Mainland over the
past year, police have found.

Officers believe the huge increase over 1999 test results, which
showed the drug in only 8% of tested samples, may be partly a
consumer-driven phenomenon.

"You're not making it weaker. You're making it stronger. Obviously,
someone likes that," said Cpl. Scott Rintoul of the RCMP's
drug-awareness section. "The carrot that's dangling out there is the
meth, not the Ecstasy."

Of the 137 tablets tested at Health Canada labs so far in 2005, 125
contained MDMA, or Ecstasy.

Of those 125, 95 contained meth. The median amount of meth in the
tablets was eight milligrams, with 16 mg the high and four mg the low.

As Cpl. Rintoul pointed out, the typical dose of amphetamine given to
pilots in the U.S. Air Force to keep them awake on long missions is
about 10 mg.

Meth's promise of energy and invigoration may now be what's drawing
the party crowd to "speedy" Ecstasy, Cpl. Rintoul suggested.

"That's quite a dangerous slope we're on right now," he said. Cpl.
Rintoul is also concerned that regular Ecstasy users may be building
up dangerous addictions to meth without even knowing it.

Other products found in the 137 pills tested in 2005 included
caffeine (47%), ephedrine (16%) and ketamine (2%). All of the pills
were seized at legal events.

"This is why we hire competent security staff," said Kraig Docherty
of Twisted Productions Inc., a rave and event promotions company in
Vancouver. "Drugs are drugs and we ensure every client is clean. We
don't look specifically at the mix that comprises ecstasy pills. If
pills are on people, they're removed."