Police accused of failing to tackle killer drug ecstasy

POLICE have been accused of turning a blind eye to ecstasy-related crime after figures from the country’s biggest police force revealed the number of convictions is dropping.

Ecstasy was linked to 63 deaths in 2016, the highest number for 16 years, Office for National Statistics figures show. But despite the number of death certificates referencing the class-a drug increasing, the number of convictions has fallen significantly.

Figures obtained by The Telegraph show the Metropolitan Police recorded 732 ecstasy-related offences in 2012. This dropped to 408 in 2016 and looks set to fall further with just 171 through the first seven months of 2017.

Maxine Allen’s daughter Faye died aged 17 after taking ecstasy at a music event in Manchester. “More needs to be done about it,” she said. “The drugs are now being made by people at home. The pill that my daughter took was home-made, it is so dangerous.”

People under the age of 30 made up more than half of the total number of deaths last year, which also included 11 below the age of 20.

A Met spokesman said: “The Met will never take a backward step when it comes to protecting our communities from the harms that drug use can create. There has been a recent increase in strength seen within some MDMA ecstasy tablets. Some have been found to contain over four times the recognised dose of MDMA. These pose a significant risk to persons unaware of the potency and have been the cause of numerous fatalities across the UK.

“We urge our communities and those that visit our city not to take any illicit substances. They can kill you and heap misery upon those left behind.”