'HIP' DRUGS NEED REPELLENT NAMES

KUALA LUMPUR: A top Malaysian anti-drug official has urged for
glamorous-sounding and hip names of party drugs to be dropped and
replaced with names highlighting the effects of the drugs, a news
report said yesterday.

Designer drugs such as Ecstasy and Ketamine gave the impression of a
"trendy and divine" experience for first-time drug users, said
northern Kedah state's anti-drug agency spokesman Ariffin Man.
Suggested new names for the drugs would be "agony" and "bamboozle",
said Ariffin. "Likewise, all opiate drugs should be called organised
killers, cannabis as mind destroyers and ketamine as
community-paralysing agents," Ariffin was quoted as saying by the Star
daily.

He said the distasteful names would act as a psychological repellent
to curious youngsters, adding that society ought to reject the names
of the drugs which were dictated by drug manufacturers and
pushers.