OVERDOSES CAUSED BY THREE DRUGS, POLICE CONFIRM

THREE potentially lethal designer drugs are responsible for a spate of
Adelaide overdoses which have left two men seriously ill.

Police tests yesterday revealed three weekend overdose victims had taken
either the notorious "death drug" PMA or Ecstasy produced in local backyard
laboratories.

And it is believed Fantasy and Ecstasy are to blame for three more
overdoses yesterday.

Superintendent Denis Edmonds, officer-in-charge of the Drug Task Force,
said the re-emergence of PMA was of particular concern.

In 1996 and 1997 PMA claimed the lives of six South Australians who
believed they were taking Ecstasy.

"Yes there is a concern because PMA is usually a by-product of trying to
make Ecstasy and I would think that there are not too many drug
manufacturers out there who intentionally make PMA," Mr Edmonds said. "They
are trying to make Ecstasy and it's not working. It's much more potent than
Ecstasy."

On Saturday, a man aged in his 20s was rushed by the SA Ambulance Service
from a Glenelg apartment to the Flinders Medical Centre after taking PMA.
Yesterday he remained in a serious, but stable, condition.

On Monday a 26-year-old Parkside man was rushed to the Royal Adelaide
Hospital after taking Ecstasy. He, too, remains in a serious condition.

On the same day a woman was also treated and released from the RAH after
taking Ecstasy.

Superintendent Edmonds again warned drug users they could be killed by the
designer drugs.

Superintendent Edmonds said Drug Task Force officers would now hunt the
sources of the drugs used in the unrelated overdoses.