Ecstasy: The Love Drug?

Mark Hobson will spend the rest of his life in prison because, to quote his own excuse, he was high on Ecstasy, alcohol and other drugs when he murdered four people.

First was his wife, whom he hit in the head 17 times with a hammer. Quoting from the Guardian:

Hobson told police he had taken a cocktail of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol and could remember nothing about his girlfriend's death. He claimed to have lost a day and a half and come round with a bloodstained hammer in his hand.

Later, he lured his sister-in-law into a trap, molested her viciously, and killed her. Then he murdered an elderly couple in a town 25 miles away.

Ecstasy frequently shows up in the blood or the confessions of people who have murdered deliberately or killed by causing car accidents. Admittedly, Hobson only blamed drugs for the first murder, and admittedly, he is not your typical designer drug user. But the myth that Ecstasy is all about love and good feelings is just that: A myth. Ecstasy is just a drug, not some magic potion. It alters the brain chemistry, and that can, and periodically does, lead to all sorts of unintended consequences.

Wet?! Ugh!

While researching stories for my blog, I came across a story on crime in Camden, NJ, which mentioned how the drug trade and crime went hand in hand, and that one of the popular new drugs was "Wet," marijuana dipped in embalming fluid.

It makes me wonder ... was someone just sitting around with some embalming fluid and say, "I wonder if this will make you high?" Or is the drug marketing industry just up to its usual terrible business?

Pop Star Pink Nearly A Ketamine Death

The London Daily News reports that popular recording star Pink almost had no career at all, since she nearly died at 15 from a "drug cocktail" containing Ketamine, Ecstasy and a host of other drugs. It was enough for her, she said; now she has "no interest whatsoever" in drugs.

THE pop singer Pink nearly died after overdosing on a cocktail of drugs including ketamine when she was 15.

The traumatic experience, i n which she also took crystal meth, angel dust, Ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana, shocked her into turning away from drugs.

Pink, 25, whose real name is Alecia Moore, ... said that she became surrounded by drugs such as ketamine when she joined the club scene in her home town of Philadelphia but ' wouldn ' t recommend it to anybody'.

She added: 'I came close to death so many times. I guess my parents are happy I didn't end up on a street corner somewhere or lying in the dirt.

'I got everything out of my system when I was 13, 14, 15, and now I have no interest whatsoever.'

"Love Bombs" Target Youngsters

Here's some very distressing news from an undercover probe of nightclubs that ran in England's News of the World:

... the most shocking aspect of our probe was the targeting of pre-teen kids.

Called "Love Bombs", the tablets look like heart-shaped sweets and cost just 30p [65 cents] each. They are lower strength and deliberately designed to appeal to youngsters at drink-free teen discos.

We found them being peddled in Glasgow by Gary Patterson, a dealer who has a string of convictions. Patterson, 33, told us: "They're cheap as chips [french fries] but not as strong so ideal for your less experienced clubber — kids. They're popular at kiddy discos. You pop one, space out for an hour. If it's getting close to mum and dad picking you up, you stop taking them." He handed over two sample bags.

Drug marketers are not satisfied with the havoc, addiction and death they are causing adults, so now they are deliberately targeting our youngsters. Now is the time to pass harsh new laws to target those who sell drugs to youngsters. Let's put these people away for a long, long time.

What Ecstasy Takes Away

Here is a photo of Ecstasy victim Sian Sadler, 19, died last week after taking Ecstasy at a nightclub in England. What a lovely girl; what a tragic loss.

This week, the nightclub is still open, and dealers are still selling their wares there.

Ecstasy: The Love Drug?!

Normally, the headline above is reserved for stories about murders committed by people high on the "love drug," Ecstasy. This one is a little different, from Bangkok:

A British drug dealer has sentenced his Thai girlfriend to death by posting her more than 2,000 Ecstasy tablets from London. The 27-year-old girl was yesterday charged with dealing in a Class 1 drug, which carries the sentence of death by lethal injection under Thai law.

Huge Ketamine Bust

When I talk about designer drugs, I get more blank looks when I mentioned ketamine than GHB or ecstasy, especially around parents. When I read about busts like this, even far away in the Philippines, it is clear that people will become more familiar ... and that's sad.

Some 7,000 kilos (15,000 pounds) of ketamine ... were seized by the authorities who raided a house in Quezon City yesterday. The joint elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Another Bad Guy Busted

I love seeing things like this in the public record columns of newspapers. This is from the Greenville (South Carolina) News:

Paul John Scheele, 25, 323 Havenhurst Drive, Taylors, transporting drugs, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute near a school, possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute, possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute near a school and/or park, possesssion of schedule IV drugs, possession of schedule II drugs, possession of schedule III drugs.

Club Where Kids Died Closes

I shared with you in a post last week about two Canadian girls that died after taking Ecstasy. Now the club where they were partying before their death has closed.

The Nitrous Lounge, located in Thorold just past the Niagara Falls boundary, sits empty but Niagara Regional Police and Thorold municipal officials maintain it wasn't their doing.

Thorold Mayor Robin Brock said she received a call from a concerned person worried about the impaired condition of some of the young people leaving the club in the early-morning hours.

The mayor said police were notified and they visited the club on a regular basis, but because no alcohol was served, their hands were tied as to what laws they could enforce.

The owners of the club couldn't be reached for comment. I bet. What slime; making their living off of putting young people at risk. They're probably hiding under a rock somewhere.

Here's the solution, from The Straights Times in Malaysia:

TWO operators of a popular nightspot in Malacca have been charged with allowing drugs to be consumed in their disco. This makes them the first club owners to be brought to court since Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Noh Omar directed the police early last month to enforce Section 13(C) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

SWAT Digest Tells Sara's Story

Thank you SWAT Digest for telling your readers the story of Sara, the tragic story of homicide by the drug Ecstasy. Law enforcement officers need to know how evil and criminal the designer drug world is, because they have the opportunity to reach kids in positive ways, and help them to make smarter decisions.

Read the story here.

Sara's story is one of four designer drug tragedies told in my film True Stories of Ecstasy & Ketamine. The film is designed to help parents, teens and young adults become aware of what can happen to those who use these drugs, and hundreds of people have emailed me, telling me of the positive effect the film has had on them or their loved ones.

"Murder by Drugs" Law Challenged

I know of several cases of people who died because they were given drugs without their knowledge, including Sara, Kyle and Hillory. None of their murderers were prosecuted, and now drug attorneys in Pennsylvania are attacking one of the laws that makes it possible to prosecute for "drug delivery resulting in death" crimes.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported yesterday on that the state's drug delivery resulting in death statute:

According to the statute, drug delivery resulting in death is third-degree murder. It carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

The law was enacted in 1989, but state Superior Court ruled that version unconstitutional in 1996 because it was too vague.

The Legislature returned with a new version in 1998, but that statute, too, has come under fire.

It is being challenged in the state Supreme Court as a result of a case from Allegheny County. Gregory D. Ludwig, of Rochester, was charged with drug delivery resulting in death in May 2001.

Ludwig sold Ecstasy to an acquaintance, who distributed it to her friends. One of them, Brandy French, 16, of Sewickley, took it at a rock concert and died the next day.

Patrick Thomassey, Ludwig's attorney, sees two problems with the charge against his client.

First, Ludwig didn't sell the Ecstasy to French. Second, there is no way the prosecution could prove malice, a required element of third-degree murder.

"You can't have a murder without malice," Thomassey said.

Malice, under law, is described as a "hardness of heart" and a complete disregard for differences between right and wrong.

"In a consensual drug transaction, there cannot be malice," Thomassey said.

Not true, countered John Burkhoff, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

"We don't have the defense of consent to homicide crimes," Burkhoff said. "That defense simply doesn't exist for homicide."

There's much more to the story, so read it all here.

Rash of Drug Rapes in Kitchener, Ontario

From the Kitchener Record:

Teenage girls as young as 14 are seeking counselling for sexual assault after being given date-rape drugs, a local crisis centre says.

This month, counsellors took an increased number of calls about Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB, commonly-known as date-rape drugs, said Anna Haanstra, spokesperson for the Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre.

The agency gets about 100 crisis calls a month, she said. This month, about a dozen calls were from young Cambridge women between 14 and 18 or from their mothers. This figure represents an increase in calls from Cambridge, Haanstra said.

"The fact that we have seen an increase shows us it's an issue beyond the cases we have seen," she said. "Most women don't know to call us."

Drug-assisted rape isn't just a big city crime, a college crime or a Spring Break crime. It's spreading and it has to be stopped! I strongly suggest that prosecuters add attempted murder charges to rape charges whenever they can, and that they always push for the maximum sentence because of the dangerous and degrading nature of these crimes.

Update: In Reno, police reported that 34 out of 205 sexual assaults in that city in 2004 were drug-assisted. That's over 16 percent!

Tainted Ecstasy?

Police in Canada are investigating the suspicious deaths of two Niagara teenagers, according to the St. Catharine's Standard newspaper.

Friends say the two girls may have taken tainted Ecstasy, which is certainly possible. That's what killed Steven, who's story is told in True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine.

But what troubles me about this story is what the deceased girls' friends said:

A friend of the Niagara Falls teen said she believes her friend's death was the result of taking tainted drugs, rather than an overdose.

"(She) was responsible. She knew her limit," the girl said.

The level of denial is unbelievable. Here a friend has died, yet this girl continues to think that Ecstasy is safe. It is not manufactured under pharmaceutical conditions, so you never know what you're getting. Cathy, who is also profiled in True Stories, took the same amount of the same batch of Ecstasy that more than 30 other kids took at their Senior Prom. She died, they didn't even get sick.

And people think they can trust this drug!

Three Ruined Lives In England

From the Liverpool (England) Daily Post & Echo:

A FAMILY paid tribute yesterday to a teenage girl who died following a night out.

Sian Sadler, who was 18, is believed to have taken the dance drug ecstasy during a night out in Manchester on Saturday.

The shop assistant, from Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was found dead at a house in nearby Wilmslow on Sunday morning.

Two men, aged 18 and 19, were arrested on suspicion of supplying a Class A drug and later released on police bail.

Here is the statement from Sian's parents:

"Sian was a beautiful girl. She was kind and loving. She was such fun to be with and had a brilliant sense of humour. She was a hard-working and very popular girl who was always smiling and happy. Her tragic loss has left a void that can never be filled."

How sad, how true.

Ecstasy: The Love Drug?!

A Wisconsin man has proved once again that Ecstasy is hardly the "love drug" that many think it is.

Gregg Phillips, 25, has recently found guilty of two counts of murder committed while he admittedly was high on Ecstasy. He faces life in prison at his sentencing on June 22.

Prosecutors said Phillips fatally shot his girlfriend in their hotel room last November. After that murder, Phillips ran into a hallway and randomly shoot at guests who opened their doors, killing a German businessman and wounding two other guests.

Phillips testified that he had been drinking and taking Ecstasy that night. The love drug, indeed!

Ketamine Maker Outted By Copley

Copley News Service moved a story over its wire on Sunday that hasn't yet been picked up in any newspapers scanned by my media database ... but it's a quite a tale.

Here's the lead to the story, which is visible on the Copley site; you have to purchase the story to read the rest:

There aren't enough dogs and cats in Mexico to warrant the amount of an animal anesthetic that Laboratorios Ttokkyo manufactured at a factory near Mexico City.

Not that it mattered - Ttokkyo was producing the drug for human consumption.

Its primary distributor was a Tijuana veterinary supply store operator who smuggled the drug, ketamine, through San Diego to drug abusers as far away as New York and Miami who knew the substance as "Special K."

Erin Rose, who's story is told in my film and who lived with my family for a number of months, suffered a life-changing brain injury from Mexican Ketamine, so this story hits very close to home.

As soon as a newspaper publishes the story, I'll provide you with a link so you can read the whole thing. It's amazing. Here's a hint of what's to come:

Federal investigators said most of the ketamine abused in the United States a few years ago came from the Ttokkyo factory of Dr. Jose Francisco Molina Alvarado. His lawyers called him "a national treasure" in Mexico for his work in pharmaceutical research and said he spent years working on improving the health of millions of people.

His primary partner was Jorge Chevreuil Bravo, 43, who took over the veterinary supply company his father founded 40 years earlier and built it into a chain with 14 stores, mostly along the U.S. border and in beach resorts frequented by young people on spring break, prosecutors said.

From middle-class beginnings, the men developed a criminal enterprise that drew the attention of drug cartels, led to kidnapping attempts and shootouts on Tijuana streets and landed both in prison, prosecutors said.

"It was a cartel," said San Diego DEA office spokesman Misha Piastro. "It controlled the production, the transportation and the distribution of an illicit substance. It was a drug cartel in its own right."

The group also was a big producer and distributor of steroids, but because those were legal without a prescription in Mexico at the time, the investigation focused on ketamine, authorities said.

Low Cost Ecstasy Blamed In Death

From the London Daily Mail:

A 25-YEAR-OLD man has died after taking Ecstasy, the latest in a series of drug-related deaths.

Paramedics failed to revive the man, who was found dying in a flat in Hull, at 2.45am on Saturday.

A post-mortem is due tomorrow. Police, who are investigating, blame prices of Pounds 1 a tablet for a 'binge culture' in Britain.

A couple bucks for an Ecstasy tablet is bad news indeed...