MDMA, hybrid of stimulant methamphetamine and hallucinogen mescaline synthesized in the 1920s as an appetite suppressant, became a popular street drug in the 1970s and early 1980s. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) banned MDMA in 1985. Ecstacy users report euphoria and well-being, feeling closer to people and more in touch with their emotions. One therapist calls MDMA "penicillin for the soul." One dose of MDMA can cause permanent brain damage. MDMA causes long-term nerve cell damage to brains of heavy users. MDMA has a stimulant effect. Ecstacy associates with death, sometimes immediately after use. MDMA affects serotonin, an important brain signaling chemical associated with mood and other things. The serotonin system is fundamental to the brain's integration of information and emotion. People taking MDMA, even just a few times, risk long-term or permanent problems in learning and memory. Simplicity of making meth - cheap to produce, with a potent high - fuels its popularity. Users who eat, inject or snort meth feel euphoric, energized and powerful. Addicts can go days without sleep. Meth's downsides strike quickly: irritability, paranoia, aggression and violence.Neurologist-led researchers tracking serotonin transporter cells with positron emission tomography, PT scanning, compared brain scans of 14 subjects using the drug 70 - 400 times with scans of control subjects never using MDMA. Heavy MDMA users showed a significant decrease in brain cells that reabsorb serotonin, a messenger chemical involved in mood, appetite, pain perception and memory. Areas particularly affected were the neocortex, the brain's outer part associated with conscious thought, and the hippocampus, associated with long-term memory. Transporter cells are embedded in nerve cell membranes at the tips of thin projecting fibers called axons. Reduction in serotonin transporters in heavy ecstacy users indicates serotonin nerve endings, where the transmitter is released, are damaged. They found early indications that MDMA affects memory.
A man, 32, on ritonavir for AIDS, died of cardiorespiratory arrest at a nightclub after taking 2 1/2 tablets of ecstasy, chemically named 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) 2 weeks after his AIDS therapy was expanded to include ritonavir twice a day. He tested positive for HIV-1, developed AIDS and took AZT (zidovudine) 3 times a day and lamivudine twice a day. He took ecstasy several times without reaction. An autopsy revealed ecstasy and alcohol in his blood. Ritonavir inhibits enzyme CYP2D6, involved in ecstacy breakdown. At death his blood concentration of MDMA was nearly 10 times that expected from the dose taken. He also showed evidence of impaired liver function due to heavy drinking, maybe contributing to his death. Ritonavir could interact with many drugs metabolized by CYP2D6, including amphetamine derivatives. Ritonavir manufacturers are urged to warn users of its interaction with illicit drugs.
NIDA researchers gave either salt water or ecstasy to squirrel monkeys twice a day for 4 days. 2 weeks later they killed half the monkeys, looked at their brains and found damage to neurons associated with serotonin. Areas particularly affected were the neocortex, the outer part of the brain associated with conscious thought, and the hippocampus, associated with long-term memory. 7 years later the rest of the monkeys were killed and their brains examined. They did not recover from the damage. Some recovery of serotonin neurons was apparent in the brains of monkeys given MDMA previously but only in certain regions and not always complete. Other brain regions showed no evidence of recovery.
** ECSTASY DULLS INTELLIGENCE **
Weeks after weekend partying, those using Ecstasy and marijuana performed worse on IQ tests than people who just smoked pot or took no drugs at all. Ecstasy can cause a long-term decrease in a brain chemical involved with thought and memory. Ecstasy impairs brain function.
Party Drug GHB Causes Withdrawal, Death
Popular party drug and bodybuilding supplement gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) A K A liquid ecstasy or a date rape drug causes prolonged, life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. 8 patients using GHB experienced withdrawal symptoms 1 - 6 hours after their last dose, lasting up to 15 days. At least one patient died. These patients were mostly bodybuilders taking GHB every 1 - 3 hours around the clock, developing anxiety, insomnia, rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure when they stopped taking it. The withdrawal syndrome may progress to severe delirium with nervous system instability. Early recognition of these signs can identify patients who would benefit from inpatient medical detoxification. GHB, first used as an anesthetic, in recent years became a popular party drug due to its mood-enhancing effect. GBH is also used as a bodybuilding supplement and to enhance sexual pleasure. While GBH is illegal in the U S and available only for experimental use as a potential treatment for narcolepsy, it can be purchased on the Internet. Similar drugs sold over the counter as dietary supplements convert to GHB in the body.
GHB and its chemical cousins, gamma butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4 butanediol (BD) suppress the central nervous system and cause vomiting, seizures and coma. Claims that GBL is non-toxic and non-addictive made people believe GBL is free of side effects. People taking GHB on weekends, for example, may not become addicted. GBH is the most significant new drug abused in the U S. Teenagers who can't buy alcohol or elderly people with trouble sleeping get hooked. GBH saturates all socioeconomic and age groups.
Rural meth labs endanger farm communities
Lack of regulation muddles methamphetamine lab cleanup
Once police close a methamphetamine lab, remove chemicals and arrest suspects acids, solvents and other chemicals used to manufacture meth still penetrate walls, appliances and carpets, dangerous to anyone moving in. Most states have no meth lab cleanup standards and no certification system for private companies decontaminating the labs. Health officials have no data to accurately assess health risks posed by residual meth-making waste. Danger from contaminates lurking in former meth labs may not show for many years. Children rubbing their hands on walls contaminated with iodine or phosphorous, then licking their hands won't likely get sick right away but kidney or liver damage could show up later.Illegal methamphetamine laboratories by the hundreds move into rural areas, turning commonly used farm chemicals into grave hazards and making quiet neighborhoods and towns dangerous to live in. Demand for meth, a stimulant commonly called speed, is up, cheap to make and lucrative to sell. An ounce of methamphetamine to inhale or inject is made for $150 and sold for $1,500. Small, crude labs are set up in sheds, trailers, hotel rooms or car trunks, in rural areas because manufacturing smells betray their presence to neighbors.
Police surprised thieves in a predawn visit to a farm-supply outlet. Fleeing thieves dropped the hose to a 1,000-gallon tank of anhydrous ammonia used to fertilize farms and make methamphetamine. Over 200 gallons vaporized into a toxic cloud hugging the ground, moving like fog. 250 people in its path were evacuated. 1,000-gallon tanks are a common sight in spring and fall, when farmers fertilize their fields. Farm-supply stores rent hundreds of them to farmers using special equipment to apply the ammonia under the soil. If it rains tanks are left unattended by the road a few days until the field dries.
Dangerous, inexpensive, pressurized, toxic anhydrous ammonia is an essential methamphetamine ingredient, the only one not easily purchased over the counter. Fertilizer dealers worry about dangers to the community. Anhydrous ammonia burns. It leaches moisture from whatever it touches. People have no idea what they're dealing with. Thieves ruthlessly cut fences and shoot out lights.
Sheriff Sims helps build a baseball diamond when his office noticed thieves stealing ammonia a block away. He chased them in his pickup truck, windows down because his truck's not air-conditioned. One thief leaned out the passenger window and sprayed ammonia from a fire extinguisher at Sims, who was treated at a hospital for burns to his eyes, nose, and neck. A man with a fire extinguisher full of anhydrous ammonia on his lap died of burns after the liquid leaked and the extinguisher exploded. A paramedic, a firefighter and a passer-by stopping to help were treated for inhalation burns. Thieves put anhydrous ammonia in coolers, plastic gas cans, glass jars. All of these containers corrode. It's now a felony to transfer anhydrous ammonia in portable containers not authorized by law.
Illinois governor George Ryan urged other Midwestern Governors Conference members to join him in developing stronger action against methamphetamine manufacture. He also set up a multiagency group including conservation, health, agriculture, family service, police and fire agencies to identify MDMA risks.
Manufacture of 1 pound of methamphetamine generates 6 pounds of waste sometimes buried, sometimes dumped in garbage bags by the road. People should not open bags they find. A lot of high school kids use methamphetamines. Sometimes children are allowed in areas where meth is produced. Police found a laboratory in the basement of a small house near the center of town. Toxic fumes were vented up the chimney. Across the street 200 feet away was a day care center with 40 children aged 15 months to 12 years. Its director having no idea the lab was there, although driving by there every day, is angry and shocked that the lab was that close to the kids, a scary situation.
Methamphetamine labs a national trend
Hikers and hunters are displaced by men in moon suits searching for contamination from methamphetamine labs and roping off sick brown dead zones where meth-making's poisonous byproducts were dumped. Entire forests are closed when police discover meth labs including open containers of solution with a pH of 14 - corrosive enough to burn flesh off bones. Remnants spread over 100 acres. Police need to make sure they find and clear everything. Despite thin resources police find a lot more meth. Resources focused on cities and towns drive meth makers into rural areas with fewer police and they're less easily detected. More agents are hired, trying to catch up.
Medium-sized labs produce 2 pounds of methamphetamine a day, worth $16,000 on the street. Much smaller labs cost the state $40,000 to clean up. Vast, uninhabited acres attract illegal activity, from moonshiners to marijuana growers. Meth makers sampling their products are mentally unstable. Marijuana growers run when discovered. Meth cookers come out shooting. Marijuana is simple to eradicate - just pull the plants up by the roots. Getting rid of a meth lab is dangerous and expensive. Meth cookers dump battery acid, solvents and other toxics into rivers or the ground. Much of the waste is highly flammable and explosive - another danger anticipated for the summer forest fire season. Weaponless foresters are trained to recognize met lab signs what to do when they find one. California state firefighters know how to respond to fires caused by or near meth labs. Training now emphasizes more and more the chance of running into drugs, especially easily set up meth labs.
Punched-out foil pill cards Lithium battery shells Coffee filters Rock salt containers Solvents such as acetone Ammonia, often stored in propane tanks A strong smell of ammonia
Dear Ann Landers: As DEA Administrator and the parent of three teenagers, I'm extremely concerned about Ecstasy and look-alike killer drug PMA. Many of your readers are also parents unfamiliar with the rave scene where these drugs are readily available to their children.
Rave promoters use warehouses, fields, stadiums or clubs. They advertise as alcohol-free events, giving parents a false sense of security. They hire security guards so parties will appear safe, but instruct the guards to ignore drug use. Ecstasy and other drugs are sold at raves for $25-$40 a pill, generating huge profits for manufacturers making these pills for under 50 cents apiece. Ecstasy, the hug drug, lowers users' inhibitions and makes them crave physical contact and visual stimulation. Ecstacy causes permanent brain damage, severe dehydration and raises body temperatures to 108 degrees. Unscrupulous promoters looking to sell bottled water at exorbitant prices turn water off at rave venues. They leave overdosing kids in alleys outside their premises.
Kids believe Ecstasy is harmless. Its use causes thousands of overdoses and deaths. Warning signs of Ecstasy use include pacifiers, Vicks VapoRub, surgical masks and glowsticks. The hallucinogen PMA is passed off as Ecstasy, marketed under brand names such as Death and Mitsubishi Double Stack. Ecstacy misinformation, especially on the Internet, calls Ecstasy harmless and even beneficial. Parents should be better educated about Ecstasy and PMA dangers and warn their children about the rave scene's real nature.
Donnie R Marshall, Administrator, DEA, U S Dept of Justice
Dear Mr. Marshall: Your letter could save many lives and spare countless parents from a great deal of anguish. Parents should know the many substances available today. Educating yourselves about them is the best way to protect your children.
What's cooking? As meth is cooked, gases are deposited on floors, walls or the dog. Cooking wastge is often thrownout the window or buried. Emergency respnse companies go in and decontaminate homes to protect occupants from serious respiratory and central nervous system problems.