A new breed of ‘mega-dose’ ecstasy pills with names like ‘Trump’, ‘Putin’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ are flooding local dance floors and putting lives at risk.
New Zealand is the latest country after Britain and Australia to face an influx of pills with a ‘double dose’ of ecstasy.
A new breed of ‘mega-dose’ ecstasy pills with names like ‘Trump’, ‘Putin’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ (pictured)are beginning to flood the party scene and threaten to cause greater damage
The New Zealand Herald reported 400 kilograms of ecstasy has been seized at the country’s border in 2019.
In all of 2015 only 4.1kg was seized of the same compound.
Community group The Loop, which provides drug safety testing, tested one of the ‘double-dose’ pills and found it contains 330mg of MDMA.
This is more than five times the regular dose.
New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell told the publication the higher dose pills presented extra risk to the user.
‘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 quite terrible things,’ he said.
Customs group manager for intelligence and enforcement Jamie Bamford confirmed the worrying reports about the level of importation was increasing.
‘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,’ Mr Bamford said.
According to data released by the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System ecstasy pills remained the most prolific drug used by Australians.
In the Australian Drug Trends 2018 report respondents said they typically took pills with an eight day gap in between with a frequency of two at a time.
In Australia from 2012 to 2016 amphetamines, which includes ecstasy, accounted for 1,181 deaths with the highest number of deaths coming in the 30-39 age group.
In 2019 400kg of the active ingredient in ecstasy has been seized at the New Zealand border compared to just 4.1kg in 2015
New Zealand is the latest country after Britain and Australia to face an influx of ‘double dose’ ecstasy pills which have left people dead.
Meanwhile the number of MDMA seizures between 2015 and 2016 increased by 312.2 per cent.
Figures from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission also show of all amphetamine type stimulants coming into the country illegally, MDMA was the only one which has not seen a reduction.
‘Both the number and weight of MDMA detected at the Australian border increased this reporting period, with the 4,763 detections in 2016–17 the highest on record,’ the report stated.
In 2019 two state’s recorded their largest ever MDMA seizures.
On August 14 Queensland Police seized 766kg of high purity MDMA in combined raids at Loganlea, south of Brisbane, and in the NSW towns of Lennox Heads and Ballina.
Dr Amy Peacock, who heads up the NDARC drug trends project, said the continued rise in the use of MDMA was a worrying trend (stock image)
Community group The Loop , which provides drug safety testing, tested one of the ‘double-dose’ pills and found it contains 330mg of MDMA, five times the regular dose
Meanwhile in June the ABF made its largest ever seizure of methamphetamine after discovering a shipment of 1.8 tonnes hidden in stereos on a cargo ship from Bangkok.
On August 15 Australian Border Force officers also seized 5.5kg of MDMA and 500g of methylamphetamine concealed within garden lamps.
The drugs were found in an air consignment coming from Germany.
Dr Amy Peacock, who heads up the NDARC drug trends project, told The Sydney Morning Herald the continued rise in the use of MDMA was a worrying trend.
‘Use of higher purity stimulants can increase the risk of experiencing acute and long-term negative health effects,’ she said.
‘(Including) dehydration, increased or irregular heart rate, agitation, headaches, and seizures. It is a concerning trend in terms to the possible harms to people.’