POLICE WARY OF 'EXTREME' DRUG

A new version of the illegal hallucinogen ecstasy has yet to turn up
in Maine, but state and local police saying they are on the lookout.

Ecstasy laced with methamphetamine has been entering the United States
via northern states from illegal labs in Canada, according to a
warning issued Jan. 3 by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy.

"This 'extreme ecstasy' is a disturbing development in what has been
one of the most significant international achievements against the
illicit drug trade," John Walters, the nation's "drug czar," said in a
statement.

"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy
of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations. Desperate to
develop their client base, they are dangerously altering a product for
which demand by youth and young adults had plummeted, and are
exploiting vulnerabilities along our shared border. This is alarming
for the youth of both Canada and the United States."

The warning stated, "The dangerous poly-drug combination of
methamphetamine and ecstasy can have severe health consequences,
especially as both drugs have toxic effects on the brain. They both
can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature, leading
to sharp increases in body temperature (hyperthermia), which can
result in liver, kidney and cardiovascular system failure and death.
The potential for a life-threatening or fatal overdose is also
increased when meth-laced ecstasy is combined with alcohol. Recent
laboratory research suggests that ecstasy and meth combinations may
produce greater adverse neurochemical and behavioral effects than
either drug alone."

Drug agents in Maine said a record seizure of 98,000 tabs of ecstasy
taken at the border town of Van Buren in July 2007 was not laced with
methamphetamines.

MDEA is aware of the drug, but there have been no arrests or seizures
in Androscoggin, Oxford or Franklin counties, agent Gerry Baril said.

Ted Woo, public affairs officer for the Office of Border Protection in
Boston, said there had been no seizures of the drug at either Maine or
Vermont borders crossing into Canada.

Oxford County Chief Deputy Dane Tripp and Rumford police Chief Stacy
Carter said they were aware of the new drug but had not seen it turn
up yet in arrests.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimates that the current combined
production capacity of Canadian ecstasy laboratories exceeds 2 million
tablets per week, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy statement said.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies along the
U.S./Canadian border report large increases in the flow of ecstasy
from Canada into the United States. In 2003, 568,220 doses of ecstasy
were seized federally in the 10 northern border states; in 2006,
5,485,619 doses were seized.