'EXTREME' ECSTASY FEARED

Drug control officers in Washington have issued a warning across the
U.S. about ecstasy pills laced with methamphetamine that are pouring
into northern states from Canadian border points, including Windsor.

The illegal pills are being "dumped" in several northern border states
and then ferried across the country, according to the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

CITY 'A REAL CHALLENGE'

"Windsor is among those areas on the shared border that poses a real
challenge for us," said a top ONDCP official in Washington, who asked
not to be named.

"Certainly we are very concerned about this combo product coming
south. Since this product is popular among the young, it's out there
near schools and neighbourhoods. We need people to know this
(combined) drug is much more dangerous."

Drug enforcement authorities in the U.S. have been working in
conjunction with the RCMP to learn of the origins of the ecstasy and
meth combo pills, he said.

Both countries have had labs analyse recent seizures of the
pills.

"It is a significant and large-scale problem and something we are very
worried about," the U.S. official said.

The combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy can have severe health
consequences as both have toxic effects on the brain, according to
ONDCP.

Together, the drugs can interfere with the body's ability to regulate
temperature leading to hypothermia, which can result in liver, kidney,
and cardiovascular system failure and death.

The potential for a life-threatening or fatal overdose is increased
when meth-laced ecstasy is combined with alcohol.

Dangers for users of ecstasy alone have already been documented, said
the Washington drug policy official.

UNPREDICTABLE EFFECT

"Occasionally somebody will react in such a way they (overdose) and
die," he said. "When you spike it with meth, you are causing even more
of an unpredictable effect."

Despite the U.S. warning, the combination of ecstasy and meth on
Windsor's streets has not yet been a noticeable problem, according to
a Windsor police officer in the drugs, intelligence and guns unit.

Ecstasy has not been much of a problem because it is more lucrative
for traffickers to sell the drug in the U.S., where a single pill
fetches between $30 and $50 -- up to 10 times the rate on this side of
the border, he said.

"It is easier to get the precursors to make the drug in Canada," the
local officer said.

"It is used here, but when we seize it there are usually five or 10
pills. The most was 10,000. It gets shipped to (the U.S.) because they
can get so much more for it."

China and India have been identified as nearly the exclusive producers
of the chemicals needed to make the pills, said the U.S. drug authority.

"The chemicals are smuggled into Canada we believe primarily by Asian
organized crime groups," he said.

"You have criminal groups with ties to those countries who get the raw
ingredients across the border to Canada and that has caused problems
for both (Canada and U.S.) populations."

RCMP estimates that the production capacity of Canadian ecstasy
laboratories exceeds two million tablets per week.

Law enforcement agencies along the U.S.-Canada border report large
increases in the flow of ecstasy from Canada into the U.S. In 2003,
568,220 doses of ecstasy were seized federally in the 10 northern
border states; in 2006, more than 5.4 million dosage units were seized.

More than 55 per cent of the ecstasy samples seized in the United
States last year contained methamphetamine, said ONDCP.

John Walters, the U.S. drug czar, called the "extreme ecstasy" a
disturbing development.

"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in jeopardy
of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," he said in a
statement Thursday.

"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."