ECSTASY BUST TOUTED AS LARGEST EVER IN CANADA

Estimated $100m-Value: Toronto Homes And Storage Facilities Used In
Manufacturing Network

MARKHAM, Ont. - Police have seized an estimated $100-million worth of
Ecstasy and broken up a manufacturing operation that used a
million-dollar home in suburban Toronto as a drug lab.

Seven men from British Columbia were charged with dozens of drug
offences after police from York Region, north of Toronto, raided a
Markham home and two north Toronto residences last week.

Police said more than 1,000 kilograms of liquid and powdered Ecstasy
- -- the biggest bust of its kind in Canadian history -- were found at
three homes and three storage facilities in Toronto.

An RCMP spokesman said yesterday that much powder and liquid could be
used to make 10 million Ecstasy pills. In 2003, about 5.8 million
pills were seized in Canada in the entire year.

Detective Don Cardwell of the York Regional Police said the suspects
used each location to carry out a step in the process to manufacture
Ecstasy, the slang term for the chemical compound methylene dioxy
methamphetamine (MDMA).

In one home, he said the suspects would use widely available chemicals
to create Ecstasy in its liquid form. In another, they would extract
some solids to create a gas that could be further turned into powder.
The finished product was stored at the warehouses, along with the
chemicals used in the initial process.

"They had the full circle basically operating from place to place,"
Det. Cardwell said.

One home, at which police said the suspects created the liquid drug,
is on a street lined with large mansions on lots more than 200 feet
wide.

The house next door to the alleged drug lab is listed for sale at an
asking price of $1,930,000. It has six bedrooms and six bathrooms.

"When we pulled up with the police cars and the fire trucks, it was
pretty shocking to the neighbours," Det. Cardwell said.

The detective said labs to create MDMA, which combines a strong
stimulant with a hallucinogen, can be set up almost anywhere, using
chemical products that can be purchased without restrictions at a
variety of supply stores.

"The problem we have in Canada is that anyone can purchase the
precursor chemicals that are used to make Ecstasy," he said. "In the
United States, some of these things have restrictions on their sale,
but not here."

Det. Cardwell would not discuss the chemicals used in this case, but
many Internet sites offer Ecstasy recipes using things such as
hydrogen peroxide, methyl alcohol and formic acid. None of the
original elements is illegal.

"You can buy the lab stuff anywhere, at places like hardware stores,"
Det. Cardwell said. "All you need is someone who knows how to mix
chemicals. These guys brought in a chemist from B.C."

Det. Cardwell said the investigation into these particular labs began
on Dec. 6, after police were tipped to people making large purchases
of the precursor chemicals.

"We conducted surveillance of these individuals over a two-week
period, and tracked them to the three residences and a storage
facility," he said.

Police executed four search warrants last week, and found
documentation leading them to two more storage facilities, he said.

Det. Cardwell said the seized drugs were 96% pure, meaning they would
have been diluted to produce a much larger of quantity of street Ecstasy.

"We're saying the value is $100-million, but that's a low estimate. It
could easily be four or five times that depending on how much they
diluted it."

The detective said drug manufacturers use ingredients such as aspirin,
caffeine -- even Viagra -- to increase the number of Ecstasy pills
created from a batch of pure powder.

"You never know what's in there," he said. "That's one of the reasons
it can be so dangerous."

Police have found one of the ingredients often added to Ecstasy is
DXM, a cough suppressant. Overdoses of DXM can cause heatstroke and
death. Additives with hallucinogenic properties can also be part of
the drug cocktail that creates Ecstasy pills, and police warn these
ingredients can cause unexpected side effects such as elevated body
temperature and even strokes.

An RCMP report issued in July said the demand for MDMA in Canada is
increasing, and it is particularly popular among teenagers in Ontario,
Quebec and British Columbia.

The pills, and other synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and MDA,
have long been popular with people seeking a boost from their
stimulant properties.

"The unprecedented rise in illegal synthetic drug use is a direct
by-product of raves [all-night dance parties] and the club drug
scene," the report says. It also says the use of synthetic drugs is
"expanding from these traditional areas to more mainstream use."

"I read something this morning that said Ecstasy use among high-school
kids is going down, because they are scared of it now, but it's
obviously going somewhere if we just seized 1,000 kilograms of it,"
Det. Cardwell said.

"These people are not welcome in Markham," said Don Cousens, Markham's
Mayor. "We do not want to see them. And we will root them out and
support the police and support our neighbourhoods to keep our
communities wholesome and good. It is a good place to live and work
and play and learn."

Before last week's arrests, the largest Ecstasy bust in Canada netted
250 kilograms in August, 2003.