B.C. A HOTBED FOR ECSTASY PRODUCTION

But New Laws Are Making It More Difficult For Canadians To Access The
Precursor Chemicals

B.C.'s looser laws governing ingredients used to make the drug
ecstasy have resulted in the province being the primary source of the
drug for Americans.

That's expected to change because Canadian laws have now been
revised, but a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent
said that as of 2010, there had been a marked increase in ecstasy
seizures along its northern border with Canada. Most were linked with
Canadianbased Vietnamese drug trafficking gangs, said Jeffrey Scott.

In 2010, he noted, 15 million tablets of ecstasy were seized in the
U.S. - with four million of those on the country's northern border,
compared with two million in 2006.

But the RCMP say tougher laws involving possessing the chemicals in
Canada are resulting in a drop in the number of labs here and leading
to the production of new types of drugs.

In the past week, use of the drug has left a 17-year-old Abbotsford
woman dead and a 24-year-old woman in hospital in critical condition.

Sgt. Duncan Pound of the RCMP's drug enforcement division noted
Canada had been a hotbed for producing ecstasy because it was easier
here than in the U.S. to access the precursor chemicals: ephedrine
and pseudoephedrine.

Before 2011, the import of the chemicals was regulated, but
possession once they were in the country was not illegal, making
Canada an attractive location to manufacture ecstasy.

However, an amendment to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act now
makes it a crime to possess the tools of synthetic drug production.

Pound noted the new law has led to an increase in new drugs that are
similar to ecstasy, with euphoric stimulants but not the same complex
chemical makeup.

"They're trying to find a new niche where they can make money," he said.

Last year, Joseph Patrick Curry, a 50-year-old Fraser Valley man who
once had close ties to the leader of the United Nations gang, was
sentenced in a Washington court to more than eight years in a U.S.
jail for ecstasy smuggling.

In a separate case, New West-minster senior Silvano Cicuto, 72, was
convicted in New York of ecstasy smuggling.

Scott noted it's often easier to ship ecstasy rather than a bulk
shipment of marijuana because pills can be stashed in a suitcase.
Ecstasy is usually marketed to people under 30 for parties and raves.

The drug, which can cost as little as $3 to $10 per pill, offers
effects that can last two to six hours "if the first pill doesn't
kill you," said the RCMP's Pound.

Ecstasy is considered a dangerous drug cocktail, Pound said, that
varies in strength and potency because the organized criminals who
manufacture it aren't regulated and care more about making a profit.

The drug is often laced with other drugs such as methamphetamine,
ketamine and cocaine, which have their own adverse effects.

B.C.'s chief medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said that
according to the B.C. Coroners Service, in the four years to 2010
there have been from 10 to 24 ecstasy-related deaths per year. People
who suffer an adverse reaction to ecstasy can have psychotic
breakdowns, hallucinations and agitation as well as seizures, kidney
failure and, in rare cases, heart attacks.

"You don't know what's in it and you don't know what the dosages
are," Kendall said. "Depending on the dose, your size, how long
you've been taking it ... you can have a variety of adverse effects."

Pound agreed there is "no good batch" of the drug, which can be
manufactured in unsanitary labs and by people who are high on ecstasy
themselves, leading to wide variations in the pills that are distributed.

"If they miss a step, they'll push it out anyway," Pound said.

"There's no quality control so there's no way of knowing what's in
there and on top of that each individual person reacts differently
.. you're instantly rolling the dice with your life."

Police and the health officials have issued a public warning urging
people to avoid taking the illicit drug.