POTENT ECSTASY MADE IN CANADA CROSSES INTO U.S.

Ecstasy, a designer drug believed to have died out with the dance
raves popular a few years ago, is making a comeback as both Canadian
and American drug authorities recently warned that Canada has become a
major exporter of the drug across the U.S. border.

The new twist is that the newer Ecstasy is laced with methamphetamine,
according to reports by both the Royal Canadian Mountain Police and
the White House Office of National Drug Policy, giving a dangerous new
face to the drug.

American drug authorities issued a warning about the new Ecstasy last
week, alarmed that a drug they thought they made progress in fighting
was resurging.

"This 'Extreme Ecstasy' is a disturbing development in what has been
one of the most significant international achievements against the
drug trade," John Walters, the U.S. drug czar, said in issuing the
warning.

"The potential for a lifethreatening or fatal overdose is also
increased when meth-laced Ecstasy is combined with alcohol," Walters
said.

And he said 55 percent of the Canadian Ecstasy seized by law
enforcement agencies in the United States contained
methamphetamine.

Called MDMA, Ecstasy is a synthetic chemical derived from the oil of
the sassafras tree, and has properties similar to stimulants and
psychedelic drugs. But those ingredients are hard to find, and the
newer Canadian version substitutes cheaper methamphetamine, or speed.

Lev Kubiak, acting special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in Buffalo, said that with all the Ecstasy seizures his
agents have made at the border in the last two years, the pills were
found to include methamphetamine.

"This just makes it potentially even more deadly," Kubiak said. "Kids
are using this."

An informal survey Friday of young people involved in drug
rehabilitation at Renaissance House in Buffalo shows that those
involved in the treatment program have tried Ecstasy recently, said
Eleanore Martinez, the Renaissance House director.

And while none of the young patients cited Ecstasy as their drug of
choice, 20 percent of the men surveyed at Renaissance House admitted
smuggling small amounts of the drug across the border.

During the dance raves of the 1990s, most of the Ecstasy consumed in
this country and Canada came from Europe, but that trend has ended
with the development of suppliers in Canada.

The RCMP reported in its annual drug survey in December that since
2003, Canada went from an importer of Ecstasy to an exporter.

The report said that in 2003, Canadian authorities seized 5.6 million
doses of Ecstasy at its ports of entry. In 2006, that figure had
dropped to just 1,623 doses.

At the same time, Canadianproduced Ecstasy seized in the United States
rose to 5.4 million doses in 2006 from 569,220 in 2003.

The current production of Canadian Ecstasy labs exceeds 2 million
tablets a week, Walters said.

RCMP investigators said the majority of the Ecstasy smuggled into the
United States came across the border in semi trucks and private vehicles.

On Oct. 10, Terrence Helstern, a trucker from Barrie, Ont., was
sentenced in U.S. District Court to spend five years in federal prison
after he pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 60 pounds of Ecstasy,
or 101,488 pills, along with 1,000 pounds of marijuana over the Peace
Bridge in Buffalo.

In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the Niagara
Falls Police Department broke up an Ecstasy smuggling ring based in
the Falls.

The majority of the young patients at Renaissance House are being
treated for prescription drug abuse or heroin or cocaine, Martinez
said.

She surveyed her patients for The Buffalo News, and learned that
nearly all had taken the newer Ecstasy.