Nineteen deaths, youth between the ages of 14 and 22, gone because…

“I want to get high and party.” > “I feel less shy.” > “It makes me feel good.” > “I want to escape” > “When I do drugs it is much easier for me to say and do things I normally wouldn’t do.”  > “People like me better when I’m on drugs.” > “My friends do it.”

So many reasons to take drugs, seemingly harmless in the eyes of the user, until you wind up six feet under from an overdose or hospitalized from misuse or tainted drugs. Ecstasy holds no joy or rapture in those final moments.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ecstasy it is related to amphetamines, stimulants with some good ol’ fashion hallucinogenics thrown in for an extra kick. The chemical itself, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or to make it easier to say, MDMA has some far reaching appeal. Those who have taken it, talk about the euphoria, the confidence they get and boost of energy. On chat rooms you can find people who say they felt more love, less inhibitions, hyper sensitive to feelings and more sexual. That might not sound so bad until you get a dose of the truth; there is a far more sinister side to this drug.

Ecstasy causes increased blood pressure and heart rate, nausea, anxiety attacks, vomiting and a whole host of other not so nice side effects that can sometimes last for days or weeks. Given that many users like to partake during raves, dances, concerts or in other mass gatherings, all that extra exertion can make things worse. On top of that, you don’t have scientist concocting this stuff. Instead, you have some low life, most likely affiliated to a gang who doesn’t give a crap about the safety of his product. Gathered in some basement or warehouse is all the chemicals these people need to kill.

What makes these deaths stand out, as if the loss alone shouldn’t be enough, is the emergence of PMMA a highly potent extra amphetamine that is cheaper to produce but has a long history of being lethal. Where was it first developed? According to an online resource Enotes.com PMA  ,it was first produced by a Canadian laboratory in 1973. (Wow, that is not something to be proud of) Of course, this drugs apparent rise in use lately may be attributed to the fact that British Columbia made the chemicals that make ecstasy illegal. Always one up on us, the mad non-scientist gang members find another way to bring product to market.

An RCMP report on illicit drugs states that ” in 2008, successful law enforcement investigations resulted in nationwide seizures of MDMA totaling an estimated 1.5 million tablets and 273 kilograms. These figures underscore the entrenched MDMA trade in Canada, as well as the sustainability of this drug’s popularity and its central role in the illicit synthetic drug trade at the global level. ” Its popularity is evident and apparently hasn’t waned much as we find ourselves in 2012 still discussing the affects on our society. Piggy back popularity with the “it’s not going to happen to me” attitude and what we have is dead kids.

Inevitably, when these things occur, the debate opens up about other drugs. The gateway drug argument and a whole host of other youth in crisis discussions begin to surface again. Checking out the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse I came across the following information. In a Cross Canada Report on Student Alcohol and Drug Use, there were some stats that may be surprising. Based on data collected during 2007-2008 for students in grades 7, 9, 10 and 12 (i.e. , youth approximately 12-18 years old)... alcohol use in the past year is about twice as prevalent as cannabis use for all grades combined (46% to 62%) versus (17% to 32%) respectively.

So, that leads me to wonder just what is the real gateway drug? and At what point does taking ecstasy become the next step up to getting high? All I know for sure is there are people’s children dying, families ripped apart by something so small but powerful. Manufactured by maniacs who are grateful for the innocence of their consumers. A tiny pill that gets rave reviews by users until they see their friend lying dead on the floor.

So, how do we get the message out that this stuff is going to kill you? Can we change what has been inherent since the beginning of civilization, people want to get high? Where do we go from here?