Pubdate:  Wed, 30 Jul 1997
Source:   The Scotsman
Contact: 'Spice Girls' drug on streets 

Parents warned as ecstasy named after group and containing 'date
rape' chemical found circulating JENNY BOOTH Home Affairs
Correspondent 

TEENAGE girls are being targeted by drug dealers seeking to exploit the
success of the Spice Girls by naming a new form of ecstasy after the hit
band. 

Last night, GPs were being alerted over the danger presented by the "Spice
Girls" drug which is selling in Edinburgh, Fife and Dumfries. The drugs
harm reduction group Crew 2000 was handing out leaflets at rave clubs in
the Capital warning of the pills, which are being sold at around £10 each. 

The tablets, white or pink and printed with the trademark letter "S",
contain a cocktail of chemicals including the veterinary anaesthetic
ketamine, and have already caused some Scottish youngsters to hallucinate,
collapse and lose their memory. Ketamine was labelled the "date rape" drug
because some sex predators in the United States used it to paralyse their
victims so they could assault them. 

Lothian and Borders Police have made two seizures of the pills in the last
fortnight, one in a city centre pub. 

 Detective Inspector Norma Graham, the head of the drugs squad, feared
younger children might be attracted to them because they were named after
the allgirl band. "The concern is that the name will make this drug
extraattractive, because young people are so heavily influenced by any
kind of brand name or designer labelling, and because of the hype
surrounding the Spice Girls at the moment," said Ms Graham. 

"People are buying these tablets in Edinburgh and thinking they are taking
E, which is unsafe in itself, but these drugs have an added danger. They
literally have a knockout effect, causing loss of memory and even
unconsciousness. Who knows what can happen to someone in that sort of state?" 

Dr Alison Jones, the deputy director of the Scottish Poisons Unit, said
that the pills were strong enough to cause clinical ill effects. Their main
ingredient was ephedrine, which is a stimulant, but they also contained
diazepam, which causes drowsiness and sickness, and ketamine. 

"Ketamine is no longer used as a human anaesthetic because it causes vivid
hallucinations," said Dr Jones. "The combined effects of the three drugs
would at first be quite like ecstasy, but the feeling of energy would soon
be overtaken by drowsiness and nausea. 

"It would be dangerous for someone planning to drive or perform skilled
tasks afterwards, particularly if they had been drinking as well. If
someone became very drowsy and sick they could inhale their own vomit and
die. 

"Ketamine used to be sold in England and Wales as Special K, but it faded
out because it is not a dance drug, and it doesn't make you feel good. 

"It hasn't been on the Scottish scene for the last five years or so, and we
would be very unhappy to see it make a comeback." 

Dr Jones has warned the directors of public health in Lothian, Dumfries and
Galloway, where the tablets are also circulating. GPs and hospital doctors
were being put on the alert for the aftereffects of the drug among patients. 

Ketamine works slowly and ravers might be tempted to take several pills to
boost the effect. "To take K unknowingly at a club or pub will almost
certainly result in a very disturbing and frightening experience," the
leaflet says. 

Liz Skelton, of Crew 2000, said the project had come across an ephedrine
and ketamine tablet two months ago, but the addition of diazepam to the
cocktail was a sinister development. 

Willie McBride, of the Glasgow rave drugs project Enhance, said he was not
aware of the Spice Girls tablets circulating in Strathclyde. 

New variants of ecstasy tablets emerge every few weeks, as drug dealers try
to appeal to the fickle teenage market by altering the ingredients and
naming the tablets after the latest computer game or cartoon character. 

Lothian and Borders drugs squad has made arrests in connection with the
drug, but is still trying to trace their source. 

The tablets are wellformed and look professionally made rather than
homemade, said Ms Graham. She asked parents to be aware of youngsters
talking about the Spice Girls, but perhaps referring to the drug and not
the group. 

The Spice Girls, Mel C, Mel B, Geri, Victoria and Emma, have warned: "Don't
do drugs. You get high on life, not on drugs." 

Their spokeswoman said last night the girls were appalled to find their
name being used for drugs. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the
girls," she said. "They are horrified." 

İThe Scotsman Publications Ltd