ECSTASY DRUG CITED IN 6 FLORIDA DEATHS

MIAMI, Sept. 29 - A lethal variant of the drug Ecstasy has killed at least
six people in Florida since July, raising victims' temperatures so high
that the central nervous system "burns out," the state police said today.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a statewide warning that
no tests could reliably determine the presence of the highly toxic
additives in pills sold as the illegal stimulant Ecstasy, or MDMA.

The deaths were attributed to tablets that in addition to the usual ecstasy
ingredients also contained either PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine) or PMMA
(paramethoxymethamphetamine).

Both are powerful stimulants that cause body temperature to soar. The
additive PMA was blamed for three deaths in the Chicago area in May, the
Florida police said.

Five of the Florida victims died in the Orlando area, where the Orange
County Medical examiner recorded their temperatures at 106 to 108 degrees
at the time of death.

A 19-year-old woman who died in Lake County, near Orlando, in August after
taking the drug had a temperature of 104 degrees five hours after she died,
the medical examiner said.