DEADLY COMBO

VIAGRA, ECSTASY DANGEROUS MIX

Ravers who look for love by adding the sex drug Viagra to Ecstasy are
swallowing a "dangerous cocktail," Ontario's deputy chief coroner warns.

Dr. Jim Cairns was commenting last night on reports that the potentially
deadly mix is becoming the combo of choice for rave and nightclub goers
seeking to combat the libido-lessening effects of "hug drug" Ecstasy.

Health officials in Toronto and in Calgary have been hearing of the
potentially volatile blend of Ecstasy and Viagra, the erectile dysfunction
drug.

Alex D., editor and publisher of Toronto-based Tribe magazine, said Viagra
is popular in nightclubs, although not as common as in Great Britain or the
United States.

Experts warn if Viagra is taken with illicit drugs, users risk being hit
with a heart attack or stroke.

NO DANGER TO YOUNG

And Dr. Jack Barkin, Humber River hospital's chief urologist and a
consultant for Pfizer Canada, which has sold more than $1 billion worth of
Viagra since it was introduced in Canada more than a year ago, said there's
no danger in young men consuming it as long as they don't also take other
nitrate-based drugs. Such a mix can cause headaches, flushed faces, stomach
upset and difficulty telling red from green.

Ecstasy or methylenedioxymethamphetamine was developed during World War I in
Germany as an appetite suppressant and rose to prominence at British raves
in the mid-1990s, where it was touted as "the love drug."

But while users "feel amorous towards their partner, it reduces
performance," Cairns said.

Partygoers who "have a desire to enhance" their libido can achieve it with
Viagra, he said. "I have heard rumours of this, and if it is, in fact, true,
we're dealing with an even more dangerous cocktail.

ECSTASY DEATHS

"Ontario has had 13 Ecstasy-related deaths, but we don't test for Viagra,"
he said. An inquest is being held into the death of Allen Ho, a university
student who collapsed last October at a Toronto rave after using Ecstasy.

- -- Files from Canadian Press