'THAT DEMON IS WITH YOU FOR LIFE'

Warning - Police Warn Students of New Highly Addictive Drug on the
Market That Could Ruin Their Lives

SAINT JOHN - A dangerous new form of ecstasy is turning up in schools
throughout the region, police say.

Drug dealers are turning to young teens as a lucrative market for
ecstasy laced with methamphetamine - a highly addictive and toxic substance.

The pills come in all different colours, with graphics such as
Transformers or kangaroos and names such as Facebook.

"There's no question about it. They've recognized that ecstasy is a
gateway to the kids," said Sgt. John Wilcox, who heads the street
crimes unit for the Saint John Police Force. "It's a way of increasing
their addictive base."

The new form of ecstasy - known as a rave or party drug from the 1980s
and '90s - is much more dangerous because of its addictive qualities.
The old ecstasy, made with MDMA, is not addictive, Wilcox said, while
the new, much more addictive form is sometimes made 100 per cent of
methamphetamine. It's considered one step below crystal meth, a
dangerous drug gripping addicts in western Canada, Ontario and Quebec.

The laced pills are also cheaper to produce, turning a better profit
for organized criminals.

"Methamphetamine is here and it's here in force. There's a lot of it
on the street," Wilcox said.

Const. Cory Jamieson, who talks to Grade 5 and 7 students as part of
the DARE program, got an idea of how prominent ecstasy is among Saint
John's youth when a young woman shared her experience with a class in
the north end. DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

The Grade 7 girl said she had been offered an ecstasy pill, but she
refused it because she has a hard time swallowing pills.

"I'll be honest, I was devastated that one of my Grade 7 students was
offered this, before I had a chance to deliver the message," Jamieson
said. "It almost brought me to tears."

The aim of DARE is to teach youngsters refusal strategies before they
encounter drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

Jamieson said he teaches the students that if there is no demand, the
drug dealers will go away. "They're selling it anywhere they can turn
a dollar," Jamieson said. "These kids are just dollars to them."

He said the dealers will give the laced ecstasy pills to a teen for
free, then suddenly tell them they owe $500.

"They'll say, 'Now get out and steal for me, do the car breaks, the
break-and-enters,' " Jamieson said.

Sgt. David Hartley-Brown, who heads the police force's community
services unit, says the drugs can be found in any part of the city and
within any social class.

He wants parents to have frank discussions with their children about
what they might encounter at parties or with friends. "Kids are buying
things and they don't know what they're getting," Hartley-Brown said.

"I'm a strong believer that the first line starts at home. You're
never too young to learn about this stuff."

For him, the issue really hits home when he thinks about the high
school students who are on methadone, a prescribed drug that helps
addicts get off of opiate-based narcotics such as Dilaudid or heroin.

"They are getting methadone treatment on a daily basis. And when
that's happening, that's a big wake-up. This is a serious issue," he
said.

"It's a reminder we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Not just
from the police side, but from the community."

For Wilcox, who investigates drug dealers in the city, the most
effective way to deal with the influx of laced ecstasy is to "go where
we can do the most good" by educating kids.

His investigators have not busted any clandestine ecstasy labs in
Saint John yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't here, he said. He
believes most of the pills are coming from within Canada.

But the message to children is simple, he said. "We can't be there for
you every time a drug dealer approaches you, but we can tell you, this
is what you're facing," Wilcox said.

"Don't buy that poison from that dealer. Because it's poison and
they're trying to make you a customer for life. And make no mistake,
when you get addicted, that demon is with you for life."