Ecstasy threat as mega pills land
Thought to be the same drugs that have killed in the UK
They come with names like The Punisher, Putin and Trump — a new breed of mega-dose Ecstasy pills are threatening to cause havoc in New Zealand.
The pills are part of a phenomenal rise in the availability of the illegal drug, and a “spike” in border interception of Ecstasy’s active ingredient.
Customs found 4.1kg of MDMA in 2015; in six months this year, it has seized 400kg.
This appears to be the first confirmation the same mega-dose drugs that have left people dead in the United Kingdom have arrived here.
Tests of The Punisher pill show it containing 330mg of MDMA — nearly five times the normal Ecstasy pill.
NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said pills of those names had emerged in New Zealand and warned users over the unexpected impact the drugs were likely to have.
“They are all around the world right now,” said Bell.
“The reason we can tell it’s a fourdose pill is because of the weight.
“Our machine says there’s a lot of MDMA in them and not much else. When we weigh them, there’s 3-4 doses in each pill.”
The New Zealand charity which tests pills and works to minimise drug-related harm, Know Your Stuff, has picked up signs of the higher dose pills over the past two summers.
Know Your Stuff managing director Wendy Allison said it had tested a number of pills with doses of 200-300mg this year.
She said some — but not all — had similar logos to those identified by the UK drug awareness charity The Loop.
Pills tested included the “Donkey Kong” brand, which has also been identified as high-strength in the UK.
In June, British teenager Harley Girven, 19, was found dead at his home on the Isle of Wight after a night out during which he took The Punisher pill.
His death is just one of a number linked to the pill which has ambulance crews and emergency rooms in the UK on high alert for symptoms associated with a high dose of MDMA.
St John assistant director of operations Johnny Mulheron said the ambulance service here had no recorded cases of people exhibiting symptoms associated with the pills.
A police spokeswoman said drugs were made or imported by people focused on profit and not the wellbeing of users.
“The easiest way to prevent yourself from harm associated with illicit drug use is to not take them in the first place — this will always be police’s advice.”
Customs group manager for intelligence and enforcement Jamie Bamford said international criminal syndicates were targeting New Zealand and had links to organised crime here.
“What we are seeing here in the past few years is a huge spike in MDMA coming over the border. There is an effort to create and meet a market here.”
The “manufacturing hubs” were in the Netherlands and Europe, where Customs had officers working with law enforcement. Bamford said it was a mission which had enjoyed success, including the recent seizure of 50kg of MDMA bound for NZ.
Ecstasy is generally considered one of the more benign drugs in terms of the harm caused to users and others, according to a study by Professor David Nutt, a former senior drug adviser to the British government.
Often called the “love drug”, traditional doses can create feelings of empathy, euphoria and prolonged energy by increasing the release of dopamine and serotonin to the brain. It also increases the heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, which can lead to dehydration.
But Ross said the higher dose pills dumped so much of the drug into the body at once it increased the risk and didn’t give users the high generally associated with it.
“They’re putting themselves at risk and the effects aren’t going to be great. They’re going to feel quite munted. We are seeing some terrible things.”
Ross said advice around Ecstasy use recommended leaving months between pills to allow the body — and brain — to recover.