U.S. DRUG CZAR LABELS CANADA ECSTASY DRUG THREAT

Waters Warns Popularity Of Chemical High Creates Booming Export
Business To States

VANCOUVER - A resurgence of the use of ecstasy by young Americans is
being fuelled by Canadian producers smuggling the illegal designer
drug -- which is increasingly laced with crystal meth -- into the
U.S., according to the White House drug czar.

John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
is warning Americans to be aware of a "dangerous new drug threat
coming from Canada."

In a news release distributed in the U.S. and Canada, Walters warned
that ecstasy -- a manufactured pill that triggers the feel-good brain
chemicals serotonin and dopamine -- is becoming popular again.

"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy
of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," Walters said
in the release.

And that's "alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United
States."

He said ecstasy use rose in the 1990s in the rave culture, where users
took the "hug drug" and danced for hours, but dropped in the early
2000s. But a 40-per-cent spike in ecstasy use was reported between
2005 and 2006, with one-third of users being under 18.

"These increases coincide with increased trafficking of ecstasy from
Canada," said Walters' office.

The number of ecstasy pills seized at the Canada-U.S. border grew
tenfold in three years, to 5.5 million in 2006 from 570,000 in 2003,
it said.

A spokesman from the office, who spoke on condition he wouldn't be
identified, said there is virtually no ecstasy produced in the U.S.,
possibly because of more stringent controls over the importation of
the ingredients needed to produce the pills.

He said the pills before 2003 were imported largely from the
Netherlands and Belgium.

In recent years Canada has become a new "target country."

"We thought we kind of had this problem licked" through stepped up law
enforcement and education programs that highlight the dangers, such as
damage to the brain and other organs and even death.

Cpl. Richard De Jong, of the RCMP's drug and organized crime squad,
said the RCMP shares the U.S. officials' concern about the increased
production of chemical drugs in Canada and the increasing use of the
highly addictive crystal meth.

"He's just stating the obvious," he said. "We're recognized as a
threat country."