Officials: An Arrested Youth Had Used It

SOUTHWEST VA. SEES FIRST CASE OF DRUG PMA

The drug looks like ecstasy but is cheaper and easier to make. It can cause
cardiac arrest, coma and death.

Bedford Police say a Bedford County youth arrested last month after he
assaulted a woman and raved about taking LSD had instead taken a
potentially lethal drug called PMA.

The drug, paramethoxyamphetamine, is sometimes sold to unwitting buyers as
the drug ecstasy.

Bedford Police Chief Milton Graham said Tuesday that the Division of
Forensic Science Western Laboratory in Roanoke notified him that the
juvenile's case is the first instance of PMA the lab has seen in Southwest
Virginia.

Graham said the drug looks like ecstasy but is cheaper and easier to make.
But the side effects - increased heart rate, blood pressure and body
temperature - can cause cardiac arrest, coma and death, Graham said.

He said because the drug doesn't produce the same euphoric feeling as
ecstasy, unknowing users who think it's ecstasy may take too much and overdose.

Bedford Police were called to a domestic disturbance at a home in the 900
block of Laurel Street about 3:40 a.m. Oct. 28 and found the boy, 17,
standing naked in the street and yelling. He screamed at police to shoot
him and made references to taking the drug LSD, Graham said.

The juvenile, who Graham said lives in the Stewartsville area, was taken to
Carilion Bedford Memorial Hospital, where he remained under observation for
several days, Graham said.

The victim, 42, was treated and released from the same hospital with a
broken nose and a cut on her face. Graham said the boy and two relatives of
the victim came to her home after they were turned away from a dance.