Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jan 2008
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Susan Lazaruk

BLAME CANADA FOR GROWING ECSTASY USE BY U.S. YOUTH

Warns Of New Drug Threat From North

A resurgence of the use of ecstasy by young Americans is being 
fuelled by Canadian producers smuggling the drug into the U.S., the 
White House drug czar says.

John Walters, director of the office of national drug control policy, 
is warning Americans to be aware of a "dangerous new drug threat 
coming from Canada."

In a news release distributed in the U.S. and also sent to The 
Province, Walters warned that ecstasy, a pill that triggers the 
feel-good brain chemicals serotonin and dopamine, is becoming popular 
again. He said the pills are increasingly laced with highly addictive 
crystal meth.

"Historic progress against ecstasy availability and use is in 
jeopardy of being rolled back by Canadian criminal organizations," he 
said, which is "alarming for the youth of both Canada and the United States."

Walters said ecstasy usage rose in the 1990s in the rave culture, 
where users took the "hug drug" and danced all night. Usage dropped 
in the early 2000s. But he said there was a 40-per-cent spike in 
usage between 2005 and 2006, with one-third of users under 18, and a 
decrease of the perception of risk.

"These increases coincide with increased trafficking of ecstasy from 
Canada," he said. The number of ecstasy pills seized at the 
Canada-U.S. border grew tenfold in three years, to 5.5 million in 
2006 from 570,000 in 2003, he said.

A spokesman from his office who wouldn't be identified said that 
before 2003 the pills were imported largely from the Netherlands and 
Belgium, but Canada has become a new "target country."

"We thought we kind of had this problem licked" through stepped-up 
law enforcement and education programs that highlight the dangers, 
such as damage to the brain and other organs and even death.

Cpl. Richard De Jong of the RCMP's drug and organized-crime squad 
said the force shares the U.S. concern about the increased production 
of chemical drugs in Canada and the increasing use of crystal meth.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart