RARE CHEMICAL FOUND IN FATAL ECSTASY

Five ecstasy-related deaths in B.C. over the past six months involved
a rare and dangerous chemical that was previously unknown to the B.C.
Coroner's Service, officials said Friday.

Toxicology reports showed that, of 16 ecstasy deaths in 2011 and two
so far in 2012, the chemical PMMA was present in the deaths of three
males and two females, said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.

In all 18 tested cases, the compound traditionally associated with
ecstasy, MDMA, was present as well.

The coroner's service had not tested for PMMA previously, but will do
so in all ecstasy-suspected deaths now, Lapointe said.

"If there is more PMMA now [in ecstasy pills] and it is more toxic, we
don't want to see more deaths," she said.

"We were not familiar with PMMA until the last week, in fact."

PMMA was blamed for a recent spate of drug deaths in Calgary, leading
to the review in B.C.

Officials are concerned that PMMA can cause severe overheating and
seizures, and that euphoric effects come on more slowly than with
MDMA, leading users to take more pills.

"[In some of the five PMMAlinked deaths] we have noticed beds that are
soaked with sweat," Lapointe said.

Lapointe stressed that there is no safe form of ecstasy - and that
MDMA was found in the 13 other fatalities tested, and all five PMMA-
linked cases.

Police have long said that ecstasy produced and sold in B.C. is made
in clandestine and often filthy labs, and cut with other drugs
including methamphetamine, ephedrine, ketamine, GHB, PCP, and even
additives such as highway reflector paint, in order to produce
desirable pill colours.

The PMMA-linked deaths occurred this month as well as in August,
November and December 2011. The three male victims were aged between
14 and 37. The two females were aged 17 and 22. In one case, only one
pill was ingested.

In a recent highly publicized spate of deaths, an unidentified 22-
year-old Vancouver woman died last weekend after taking ecstasy at a
house party.

Prior to that, 17-year-old Cheryl McCormack of Abbotsford died a few
days before Christmas after taking ecstasy with friends at a
sleepover. Tyler Miller, 20, died on Nov. 27, and an unnamed Burnaby
resident died after taking ecstasy on New Year's Eve.

A 24-year-old Abbotsford woman was taken to hospital in critical
condition on New Year's Eve after taking about seven ecstasy pills.

Abbotsford police spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald said the woman is now
recovering.

Police have little information on where PMMA is coming from, or how
long it has been on the streets, MacDonald said.

"We are seeing something that is highly potent and highly toxic," he
said.

"But my concern is that we focus on PMMA and lose sight of the danger
[of MDMA-based pills.]

"Whether you take the pill with the death-skull stamp on it or the
Tinkerbell stamp, you are still in danger."