DRUG COMBINATIONS CARRY CUTE NAMES, UGLY RESULTS

Ecstasy Mixed With Other Narcotics. Some Designer Tablets Are Imprinted
With Logos, Among Them Mitsubishi And Calvin Klein

Hippy flipping. Elephant flipping. Trail mix.

Cute phrases, perhaps, but they represent serious, occasionally fatal, drug
combinations that are moving into the mainstream, RCMP drug trackers say.

"This is the era of synthetic drugs," said Cpl. Scott Rintoul, one of the
force's chemical drug specialists.

"It's like a candy store out there. The drugs are very very cheap and they
are very very pure," Rintoul told a session at the international forum on
drugs and dependencies at the Palais des Congres.

Not only have designer drugs with such monikers as Easy Lay, Body Buzz and
Special K moved out of the rave scene and into the club and street scenes,
they are increasingly used with other drugs or alcohol.

And that can be life-threatening, said Rintoul, who was at a Vancouver rave
in October where two party-goers died of drug overdoses.

A woman, 24, had taken the drug ecstasy - what the coroner called "a bad
batch"- and, police believe, a 16-year-old had taken a four-drug combo that
featured ecstasy.

Drug combos are so common, they have tags. "Hippy-flipping" refers to the
use of ecstasy with magic mushrooms. "Elephant-flipping" involves ecstasy
and PCP (phencyclidine, also known as angel dust), while "trail mix" is
whatever mix of synthetic drugs is hot at the moment.

Increasingly, these drugs are manufactured in clandestine labs in Canada.
Many are large and most are located in residential areas, said Sgt. Doug
Culver of the National Chemical Diversion Unit, who showed photographs of a
basement lab found in a pricey Vancouver suburb, next door to the home of a
heart surgeon.

Lab operators were in the process of converting 400 kilograms of oil of
sassafras into ecstasy, he said. One ecstasy tablet can sell for $20 to $30
but costs less than 50 cents to make.

Increasingly sophisticated, some designer drugs in tablet or wafer form are
imprinted with logos; among the more visible are Mitsubishi and Calvin
Klein, Culver said.

Some labs send scouts to raves or clubs to determine the look of the
best-selling drug.

"If it's a little blue pill with Superman on it, a phone call is made and
the lab starts pumping out blue Superman pills," he said.

In 2001, police analyzed 300 samples of available drugs in Vancouver and
found only 25 per cent were ecstasy alone; in 2002, analysis of 145 samples
found only 18 per cent were ecstasy alone.

Among the most popular other drugs is methamphetamine because it provides
energy and lasts longer than ecstasy and, for those concerned with body
image, keeps weight down, Rintoul said.

In most cases, drug manufacturers have little problem getting their hands
on the chemical ingredients to manufacture the synthetic drugs, Culver
said. That situation will probably change in January, as legislation
covering the basic ingredients is expected to come into effect.

Those who manufacture what are known as Schedule III drugs face a maximum
of 10 years in prison, he said.

lmoore@thegazette.southam.ca

Some common synthetic drugs

ECSTASY (Nicknames: E,

Love Drug, X, Adam, XTC)

Chemical name: MDMA

Most commonly swallowed, can be snorted. Creates a feeling of well-being,
energy and confidence, intensifies senses of touch and taste; can trigger
paranoia and panic.

Physical reactions: Decrease in the brain chemical (serotonin) that
naturally affects mood, possibly permanent. Can lead to dangerously high
body temperature, rapid breathing and kidney failure.

MDA (Body Buzz, Love Drug)

Full chemical name: 3, 4-methylenedioxyamphetamine

Most commonly swallowed, can be snorted. Intensification of feelings and
heightened but not distorted senses.

Confusion, fatigue, anxiety, difficult concentration.

Physical reactions: Extreme confusion, seizures and possibly coma.

SPECIAL K (Super K, CVR for Chemical Virtual Reality)

Chemical name: ketamine

Swallowed, injected into a muscle, snorted. Loss of sense of time and
identity, intensely distorted vision, inability to feel pain. Very addictive.

Physical reactions: Can cause unconsciousness, decreased breathing rates.

Source: RCMP Drug-Awareness Program/Addictive-Drug Information Council