Pubdate: Thu, 02 Feb 2012
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2012 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Marilyn Baker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECSTASY IS NO WAY TO DIE

RICHMOND B.C. -- Another person -- a teenaged boy -- has died from an 
ecstasy overdose in Vancouver this month, bringing to 19 the number 
of ecstasy-related death in the past six months in B.C.

Ecstasy is described as a "recreational" drug. It makes you feel warm 
and outgoing. It makes you want to hug everyone.

Kids used to go to raves to do ecstasy and dance the night away.

Now they go to house parties in the tony West Side of Vancouver to do the drug.

Either way, parents go to funerals.

Until recently, ecstasy had been considered safe. Most people who use 
it insist it's not dangerous even though it causes your brain to 
overheat and can cause severe dehydration.

The problem is that Ecstasy is an illegal drug so victims have no 
idea what they are ingesting.

It appears that the pills causing recent deaths contained 
methamphetamine or a similar toxic compound called 
paraoxymethamphetamine (PMMA). So the kids weren't taking 
"traditional ecstasy."

Traditional ecstasy's chemical formula is MDMA, which stands for... 
um, I forget.

According to reports, the PMMA stuff is cheaper to produce than MDMA.

It is also far more toxic. One of the B.C. victims, a 17-year-old 
girl, took only one pill (in an effort to lose weight) before she died.

The ecstasy deaths are just the latest in an endless tide of 
drug-related news in this province. Sometimes it seems British 
Columbia is the drug capital of the world.

There are differing opinions on what needs to be done to fix our drug problem.

Suggested solutions centre around the "four pillars" approach.

"Harm reduction" -- one of the pillars -- garners the most attention.

Insite, the safe injection site for injectable drugs, is an example 
of a harm reduction initiative. Insite is still going strong in 
downtown Vancouver, having survived a court challenge.

Valued, but nearly extinct RNs can be found assisting heroin addicts 
to get their fix in warm comfortable surroundings with clean needles.

Insite is still "byob" in that clients must bring their own illegal drugs.

Still on harm reduction, an "illicit drinkers group" has succeeded in 
getting a $50,000 grant to study the benefits of providing free booze 
to downtown east-side residents hopelessly addicted to alcohol. To 
qualify as "hopelessly addicted" you have to be hooked on shaving 
lotion, mouthwash or hand sanitizer.

The other three pillars for fighting drug addiction are prevention, 
treatment and enforcement.

There was a bit of enforcement news recently. A new anti-smoking 
bylaw just came into effect. People can no longer smoke in public 
parks or on beaches.

There are bylaw officers waiting to pounce on tobacco smokers. No one 
is sure how pot smokers will be handled. Pot is cool here.

British Columbia pot even has a strain named after it: "BC Bud." BC 
Bud is very high in THC content. THC is the psycho-active ingredient 
in marijuana that makes people go all mellow and glassy-eyed.

Kind of like Mayor Moonbeam and other city hall occupiers who hatch new bylaws.

Hookah cafes are also popular here for smoking from water pipes.

The inhalers contemplate inner peace in the busy noisy hubbub that is 
downtown. The owners insist the stuff being smoked is herbal molasses 
or organic celery or something equally innocuous.

But will they allow hookahs outdoors on the beaches, or will hookah 
smoking be confined to indoor cafes?

No one knows.

But back to ecstasy and the four pillars. No one uses ecstasy expecting to die.

Ecstasy is sold in pill form. Some are brightly coloured and have 
pictures of Mickey Mouse on them. The drug is sometimes "cooked" with 
highway reflector tape to get a neat orange colour.

People who take ecstasy insist it's not dangerous. They invariably 
liken it to alcohol and tobacco and say it's no big deal.

Dr. Perry Kendall is big on harm reduction. Dr. Kendall is the chief 
medical officer of B.C.

He says people shouldn't take ecstasy.

But if they are going to take ecstasy, he recommends taking only one 
or two pills per evening. He also advises they should have someone 
"sober" with them to transport them to the ER if they "don't do well" 
after popping some pills.

Kind of like a designated driver does for "traditional alcohol" 
consumers, I guess.

So far there hasn't been a lot of news about the other two pillars: 
prevention and treatment.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom