Pubdate: Mon, 11 Sep 2000
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Copyright: 2000 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegSun/home.html
Author: Bob Holliday, Police Reporter

HIGH LIFE'S DARK SIDE

Party Drugs Like Ecstacy Made In Vile Conditions

Cupid, Playboy, Clover, Heart, Love, Superman and VIP are just a few street names for an exotic designer drug making inroads into the party scene across Canada.

But while the names for the drug commonly known as ecstasy -- which is both a stimulant and hallucinogen -- may sound exotic, the manufacturing locales are not. "Some of the stuff is made in toilets, and that's where all of that s--t belongs -- in the toilet," said an angry Sgt. Bill Stewart, of the Winnipeg police drug squad.

It costs pennies to make a pill that sells for $20-$50, mostly at rave parties popular among youths between ages 15 and 22 years.

Ecstasy is a so-called exotic designer drug manufactured in clandestine laboratories, often under filthy conditions by unscrupulous people bent on making a quick buck, claimed Stewart, who last month oversaw the dismantling of Winnipeg's first clandestine lab, on Boyd Avenue.

"There's too much of that crap out there," said Stewart. "People making and selling that s--t is just somebody trying to make a quick buck while destroying somebody's life. It scares the s--t out of me.

Becoming More Popular

"We're seeing it on the street and hearing about it more and more," said Stewart. "Five years ago, marijuana was the main drug. Today, designer drugs are becoming more and more popular."

Ecstasy has caused liver failure in two youths in Winnipeg in the past year. But across Canada, the numbers are much worse. In Toronto, police blame the "hug drug" for nine deaths.

While ecstasy may be associated with the high life, the manufacturing process is much less glamorous. The list of less-than-exotic ingredients includes liquid detergent, iodine, brake cleaner and even methyl hydrate, said Stewart.

One manufacturing process involves putting a sodium-based chemical into a cast-iron frying pan.

"They attach jumper cables to the pan," said Stewart. "The electrical charge gets the sodium metal to stick to the pan. The metal is used later in the process."

The process can also produce sodium-chloride gas, lethal to anyone not using a breathing apparatus.

The same labs capable of producing ecstasy are also used to produce methamphetamines, known as speed, usually under highly volatile conditions, including explosions.

"Imagine working hard all your life to pay off your mortgage, and then some idiot sets up a lab that could burn your house or contaminate your property," said Stewart.

Last April, a 48-year-old man from Surrey, B.C., died of injuries after his illegal lab blew up while he was cooking a batch of drugs.

"You don't need a degree in chemistry to start cooking. All you have to do is pull the recipes off the Internet," said Stewart.

One "cooker" in Alberta, with only an elementary school education, produced speed that was 92% pure.

"It ain't going to stop," said Stewart. A lab is too profitable."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager