KILLER PARTY DRUG LANDS IN T.O.

Hallucinogen PMA Fries Nervous System

A lethal version of the club drug Ecstasy that can fry a user's brain has
turned up in the Toronto area.

Health Canada has confirmed that drugs seized in a recent raid were laced
with deadly Paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA or PMMA), York Police Sgt. John
Sheldon said yesterday.

Called "death" in Australia, where 10 users have died since 1995, the
hallucinogenic stimulant increases the heartbeat, causing takers to
convulse wildly and burn out their nervous systems after several agonizing
hours.

Details of a York Police raid and the names of several people arrested
aren't being revealed until today.

RESURFACED IN SPRING

PMA was sold in the U.S. in the 1970s and '80s as a party drug. Since it
resurfaced in illegal overseas shipments this spring, U.S. health officials
have linked nine deaths to the drug.

Calling PMA "one of the most dangerous hallucinogens," Health Canada
spokesman Tara Madigan said the restricted drug produces "similar affects
to LSD.

"We haven't issued a formal advisory or warning," Madigan said. "I've heard
of PMA, but it hasn't tested out on anything we've been dealing with,"
Toronto Police Const. Tony Farchione said, adding his unit is waiting for
the results of drug tests from several recent seizures.

MIX INGREDIENTS

Criminals mix adulterating ingredients to "cut" the purer, more costly
designer drugs, he said. "A lot of what's out there that's sold as Ecstasy
and passed off at raves as Ecstasy is contaminated because the cooks don't
know what they're doing or mix it with other things."