Warning Issued About Extreme X

Wednesday, February 20th 2008, 10:22 pm
By: News On 6

Federal drug agents are warning about a new turbo-charged form of ecstasy pouring into this country from Canada.  It was first seen in northern states, but now police say it's shown up in Bartlesville and Tulsa.  News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports the drug is called extreme ecstasy because it is laced with meth, a potentially deadly combination.

Federal agents seized more than five million ecstasy pills in 10 states bordering Canada and 55% had meth in them.

Drug agents say ecstasy on its own is a dangerous drug and they've seen people die from it.  They say mixing it with another hallucinogen is only going to make things worse.  The U.S. government is so concerned about this drug flowing into the country, its warning hospitals and drug treatment centers about it.

They say drug dealers are remarketing and packaging it in order to glamorize it and make it more appealing to people in their teens or 20's.

Drug counselors say they don't see that many patients, who are dependent on ecstasy, but they see many, many people addicted to methamphetamine and they worry this mixture of the two, is just another way to get users hooked.

The combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy can have severe health consequences because each has toxic effects on the brain.  Together, the drugs can interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature, which could lead to hypothermia, resulting in liver, kidney, and heart failure, even death.  

The potential for a fatal overdose is increased when meth-laced ecstasy is combined with alcohol.  U.S. drug agents say China and India are nearly the exclusive producers of the chemicals needed to make the pills.

They say the chemicals are smuggled into Canada by Asian organized crime groups, and then the pills are smuggled into the U.S.

Police in Bartlesville believe a young girl took meth and ecstasy over the holidays.  She nearly died and was in the hospital for days.

Tulsa police say they have already seen two cases of extreme X here and the warning just came out last month.