RAVERS WARNED OF 'DEATH' ECSTASY

Fabian Dawson The Province

Police are warning patrons of dance clubs and rave parties to watch out for
a deadly drug disguised as ecstasy that has surfaced in Canada.

"I have no doubt it will be in B.C. soon if it is not here already," said
Cpl. Scott Rintoul of the RCMP Drug Awareness section yesterday.

He said the RCMP will now begin testing seized ecstasy tables for
paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA), a hallucinogenic stimulant that increases the
heartbeat and raises the body temperature -- causing agonizing convulsions.

Two weeks ago, RCMP seized moe than 100,000 pills from a Vancouver westside
home after busting a group linked to organized crime in Montreal. It is
understood that these tablets will also be analysed for PMA.

On Friday, Ontario police said that two young men in the Toronto area died
after taking PMA in May. The coroner said both victims thought they had
taken ecstasy.

The drug -- referred to as "death" in Australia and "White Mitsubishi
Double-Stack" in Chicago -- also goes by the street name "Chicken Yellow" or
"Chicken Powder."

In Australia, news reports said 10 people have died in the past five years
after taking "death." It has also killed at least three people in Chicago.

Rintoul said all kinds of "crap" are being mixed and sold as ecstasy tablets
in Vancouver.

"Dealers are mixing caffeine, ephedrine and other stuff and ripping off
people who buy them thinking it is pure ecstasy E Overuse of any of these is
dangerous E with PMA it will become even more dangerous," he said.

According to Rintoul, PMA could be in at least 26 variations of ecstasy
tablets that are on the market.

Many of them carry the three-diamond Mitsubishi logo. (The drug has no
connection to the actual Mitsubishi corporation.)

The main targets of the dealers are young people at all-night dance parties
or raves.

Rintoul also urged users to watch out for dealers selling beige, white or
pink powder, usually misrepresented as ecstasy, because they could be mixed
with PMA.

PMA, which is produced in labs specifically for the illicit drug market,
first appeared as a party drug in the 1970s and '80s. It recently reappeared
in the United States, Europe and Australia as a rave drug.

Health Canada considers PMA one of the most dangerous hallucinogens in the
world. It doesn't have the same initial intensity as ecstasy, so users often
take more pills, causing an overdose of an already dangerous drug.

At high doses, PMA often causes convulsions, coma and death. Widespread
bleeding of the brain or internal organs can also occur.

Rintoul said Toronto, quickly gaining a reputation as the "ecstasy capital
of North America," has seen 14 deaths in the last 15 months -- all related
to the party drugs.

"Their proximity to Europe gets them a lot of pure drugs," said Rintoul.

He said local investigations show that much of the ecstasy being sold in
B.C. "is a mixture of crap."