ECSTASY QUALITY KITS ALL THE RAGE

ECSTASY tester kits have become the latest tool of the chemical generation
to determine the quality of the illegal drugs taken at nightclubs and
parties.Hailed as quick, simple and legal, the kits tell users if pills
contain MDMA (pure ecstasy) or other additives such as heroin and amphetamines.

The kits are promoted on an internet site that rates ecstasy varieties such
as White Mitsubishis according to content, quality and effect.

"Looks like a nice professional job . . . Users report a speedy, dancey,
chatty pill," the site, which is not written by the kit's manufacturers,
says of one pill.

Pill testers appeared in The Netherlands several years ago but were
difficult to find in Australia. Some were imported but at $50 they were
more expensive than most ecstasy.

Recently locally-made kits called E, which include a vial of a
liquid-testing re-agent and a colour chart, have become readily available
at record stores and smoking paraphernalia shops. Costing $22, the maker
says they promote safety in inevitable drug use.

"At the Chemical Generation, we are acutely aware of the deeply paralysing
moral and legal issues surrounding the use of our product and are committed
to our stance that E . . . does not promote or facilitate the use of
ecstasy," it tells users on the kit's leaflet.

A Chemical Generation spokesman said the company, launched six months ago,
did not condone drug use.

"Personally, I don't believe in decriminalisation," he said. "We hope to
work with the police in the future. The more information there is out there
about the drugs people are taking, the better."

Victorian police forensic centre director Gavin Canavan said forensic units
used colour-tester kits only as "a first point of call".

"Anything that just gives you a colour change doesn't give you an
indication of quality," he said. "They could give users a false sense of
security."

Chemical Generation said its test was better than having no information at all.

Paul Elliott, whose PolyEster Books in Melbourne's Fitzroy supplies the
kits, says what buyers do with the kit is up to them.

Mr Elliott sells about six testers a week and said they were becoming more
popular.

Ecstasy user "Mark" indulges several times a year. As a DJ in the
electronic music scene, he mixes with plenty of people who use the drug
every weekend.

"People in the scene are mature about the way they use Es," he said. People
who bought for friends or for re-selling would chemically test the drugs first.

Five per cent of the Australian adult population ­ almost 1 million people
­ has tried ecstasy, according to a report released last week by the
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.

Short-term effects include euphoria, confidence, dehydration and nausea.
Little is known about long-term effects.