POLICE SCEPTICAL ABOUT MALTA-MADE ECSTASY

Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Cassar is sceptical about the
possibility that ecstasy was being manufactured in Malta saying the police
had never unearthed any clues that could confirm this.

"Of course, you can never exclude anything. However, I have to say that the
police have no intelligence that can verify this claim," Mr Cassar told The
Times.

On Wednesday, sedqa, the agency against drug and alcohol abuse, pinned down
the drastic reduction in the drug's market price - from Lm15 to Lm5 - to
the possibility that ecstasy could be manufactured in Malta. Agency
clinical director George Grech was quoted as saying that though they had no
proof, they could not exclude such possibility.

When contacted Dr Grech said the drug's affordability made them suspicious
but reiterated that the agency had no proof.

"We have heard some of our clients talk about the drug possibly being
manufactured locally but obviously we cannot prove it. It doesn't take much
to make it, all you need is a 'kitchen lab'," he said.

Mr Cassar agreed it didn't take a genius to manufacture the drug but people
should not be misled into thinking it could be made in an ordinary kitchen.

The term "kitchen lab" was used as jargon by the police to refer to a tiny,
make-shift laboratory used to illegally manufacture this popular drug.

Making the drug was not a difficult process, it was getting the precursor
chemicals to make MDMA (ecstasy) which was sometimes hard and when its
manufacturers found the door closed they usually resorted to using
alternative chemicals that produced the same effect as MDMA.

"Whatever the case and whoever is manufacturing the drug, it is available
and out there - the police are very concerned about this fact," he said.

Mr Cassar believes ecstasy is sometimes being sold as little as Lm3 making
it completely affordable to young people. However, he believes this drastic
reduction in price is simply brought about by market forces of demand and
supply.

"At the moment ecstasy seems to be the only drug that Europe is exporting
and a lot of it is being produced - millions a day can be produced in one
lab - sending the market price plummeting," he said.

Mr Cassar said there were several clandestine labs concentrated in eastern
Europe but The Netherlands was the hub for any drug.

"The illegal drug industry is very volatile because it shifts and changes
when authorities come down on them and bust drug rings. They change their
tactics but The Netherlands is still the hub," he said.

Mr Cassar said the UK also had a small number of clandestine labs but the
drug was also imported to meet the demand - over two million ecstasy pills
are popped every weekend in the UK.

It was very hard to establish how many abused of this drug in Malta and Mr
Cassar said it would be presumptuous of him to try and give a figure.
Whatever the number, those who took ecstasy usually did so before going to
a party and the police were taking all the preventive measures to clamp
down on drug abuse.

Mr Cassar said considerable amounts of ecstasy pills have been uncovered at
recent parties and the police were not giving up in their fight on drugs.
Over 1,000 ecstasy tablets have been seized by the police this year.

What concerns both Mr Cassar and Dr Grech is that there were young people
out there who were playing with fire without being aware that the drug
caused permanent damage to their health. Recent studies in the US have
revealed the possibility that the brain could not return to normal even
seven years after taking this so-called party drug.

Ecstasy has claimed two young lives over the past few years. David
Farrugia, 17, died in August 1998 and Sammy Schembri 22, died in November
of the same year. Both were attending parties and died following adverse
reactions to ecstasy.