It's still a deadly game to play

ECSTASY is still on our streets today. Or is it? Detectives and drugs workers fear that the greatest danger to those tempted by the drug is that they do not know what they are putting in their mouths.

There is no legitimate use for MDMA, the active ingredient of Ecstasy, and those little white or pastel-shaded pills with the natty motif are not made at a multi-national pharmaceutical company by scientists in white coats.

They are produced by money-hungry bodge artists in garages and back rooms using outdated pill presses and ingredients that could well make most people's hair stand on end if they ever knew what they were.

With a street price of as little as £10 for three, down from £15 a pop when they first came on the market, caffeine and antihistamine are popular ingredients, perhaps mixed with chalk dust or crushed aspirin. They may not be deadly, but they hardly represent good value.

On the other hand, the real thing, possibly imported from the Continent at a wholesale price of 50p a tablet, may well contain some potent unlicensed and untested chemical that in the short term could leave you dehydrated, overheating and disorientated.

Large doses of the drug can lead to liver and kidney failure, internal bleeding and even respiratory arrest or heart failure. The future effects are unknown, but drug experts fear they may include irreversible brain damage or mental illness.

Either way, North Yorkshire drug action team co-ordinator Gabrielle Seager said Ecstasy, made with the its designer amphetamine-like MDMA ingredient, is a "disturbing" drug that ruins lives.

"It's like any other drug," she said. "It only gives what it takes away.

"The message to young people is to think before you take it. It's important to know what you are taking and without a laboratory analysis, it's impossible."

Detective Sergeant Chris Hogg, who has played a leading role in tackling the menace of drugs in York, said the use of Ecstasy is in decline, but the drug, and tablets sold purporting to contain it, remains a danger.

"People take it as a recreational drug on a weekend night or something, but they have absolutely no idea what they are putting in their system. That is the biggest problem," he said.

"Just because they see a motif on the outside they think they know what it is. They don't know what it has been mixed with and those that make and supply drugs are into all levels of criminality.

"When they take a tablet it's not manufactured by a pharmaceutical company, it's probably made by someone in their garage with a tablet press. They don't know what effect it will have on their body and they don't know what effect it will have on their life."

The tragic death of Adam Lowry throws the spotlight back on a drug that many people thought was in decline after it reached its height in the late 1990s when it became a symbol of the party culture.

At one point it was estimated that up to one million of the pills were being taken every week, often by young people looking for a "special" night out at a packed city club or countryside rave.

Bands including the Shamen, with their hit Ebeneezer Goode, thought by many to be a thinly-veiled reference to the drug, and Pulp, with Sorted For Es And Whizz, made the drug headline news.

A series of tragedies in the mid-1990s then began to put the brakes on the drug's popularity as thrill-seekers started turning to other sources of chemical excitement.

Nationally, the death of 18-year-old Leah Betts catapulted the dangers of the drug in to the public eye. Her parents released a moving image of her unconscious in hospital after taking a tablet at her birthday party.

Her grieving parents Paul, a retired police officer, and Jan, a community school nurse, dedicated their lives to teaching young people about Ecstasy and made a video portraying their daughter's last hours.

Several months later, they launched an Evening Press leaflet campaign which aimed to educate senior school pupils across North Yorkshire about the deadly drug.

The Beware! Campaign saw 36,000 leaflets sent to teenagers after reporters discovered just how easy it was to buy the drug in the city's bars. One senior police officer estimated that the drug was available in virtually every town and village in the county.

Today police and drugs workers believe use of the drug is fading as trends move back towards other recreational drugs such as amphetamines, which are popular because of their quality and reliability.

The net is thought to be closing in on those who supplied Adam Lowry and his friends in York city centre on that fateful July night.

A police spokesman said investigations into those involved in the sale are "ongoing" and that South Yorkshire Police officers continue to liaise with their colleagues in York.

Latest Home Office for North Yorkshire figures reveal that in 2002 Ecstasy was seized by police on 100 occasions, placing it between heroin (110 times) and amphetamines (70 times). Meanwhile cannabis was seized on 460 occasions.

Nevertheless drugs workers are planning another information campaign to highlight the dangers of the drug. The latest drive will concentrate on telling youngsters when they should call an ambulance.

Health bosses want to encourage young people, who may be nervous of involving the authorities if they have been taking drugs, to call for help without hesitation when things go wrong.

Police figures reveal that only 14 incidents have been recorded since April in York that involve ecstasy. Many of these are merely reports with no evidence of its use. Officers believe this is a lot less than ten years ago.

Licensing officer PC Mike Welsh said door staff and licensees are trained to spot the symptoms of drug use and to offer first aid for those who fall ill.

He said: "Door workers can undertake random searches on customers to see if they are carrying drugs, but at the end of the day the responsibility lies with the individual to look after themselves."

Det Sergeant Hogg said: "Ecstasy is still out there and it's still being used. People are still making it and people are still getting ill on it. Ultimately it's still ruining lives."

Ecstasy fact file

Other names:

Adam, 'E', XTC, disco burgers, MDMA, love doves, snowballs, apples.

Origin:

MDMA, or Ecstasy as it is more commonly known, is an amphetamine-like designer drug from the late 1970s. It was originally used as an aid in therapy but has no formal medicinal uses and is now illegally made as a recreational drug.

Appearance:

A class B drug, Ecstasy is sold almost exclusively in tablet or capsule form for oral use. The tablets can be found in any colour or shape, but are often white with a trademark symbol stamped on them. These can include 'smilies', car manufacturer logos, words such as "Adam" and the yin-yang symbol.

Effects and symptoms:

The effects can take 20 minutes to start, but last for several hours. Users experience a rush of euphoria with heightened perception of colour and sound. Feelings of calm and wellbeing are also common. Some people feel unlimited energy for dancing while others have an over-whelming urge to chew.

Dangers:

There are specific dangers for users who suffer from some forms of mental illness, heart conditions, high blood pressure and epilepsy. The majority of Ecstasy-linked deaths have been due to overheating dehydration, exhaustion or conversely, drinking too much water. Large doses can lead to internal bleeding and kidney or liver damage.

Updated: 10:25 Thursday, October 07, 2004