What's your take on these ecstasy deaths?

[Albertadiver]

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

Medical tests have confirmed that PMMA, a toxic additive found in Ecstasy, has been found in the system of a young man found dead on the SAIT campus.

23 year old Cody Gorlick was found inside a student residence on January 21.

Police and EMS attended the scene, but the young man was declared dead.

An autopsy was conducted following Gorlick's death, and toxicology results confirmed the presence of paramethoxymethamphetamine or PMMA.

Gorlick is the seventh person who has died in the Calgary area from the tainted drug.

Police are continuing to investigate a suspected overdose in the northeast on Saturday.

They were called to a home in the 0-100 block of Falsby Place N.E. and found a 37 year old man in medical distress.

He was later declared dead on scene.

Two other people, a man and a woman, were taken to hospital.

Several samples of drugs were seized from the residence and sent to the lab for testing.

Also on the weekend, two Edmonton students were taken to hospital after they took Ecstasy in their hotel room.

Toxicology reports are still out to find out what the women really took.

Numerous tips have come into police but Staff Sgt. Mike Bossley of the drug unit said not enough to narrow down a source or dealer.

He says it's up to the Crown to lay murder charges if a dealer or manufacturer is connected to the tainted drug.

Bossley says Ecstasy is becoming harder to find on the street and people are scared to take it.





These people have families. I feel bad for the family members, but find it tough to have any sort of sympathy for these druggies. Similar to a person who OD's on crack having taken it for the very first time.

As far as I'm concerned, you take that crap, whether it be ecstacy, crack, whatever, you assume the risks. Too bad your families are left with nothing but sadness. Selfish.

IBBGSH

[leeaspell]

IBBGSH.... I like it lol.

As for the deaths. It's a risk you have to willing to take. These drugs are made in make shift labs, pretty sire there isn't a whole lot of quality control that goes in to the process. You play with fire you get burned, play the ecstasy, you get dead.

[Stewie]

I agree… I feel for the families but have a hard time caring about some druggie that OD’s… It’s not like these people are 15 or 16 years old… they are in their mid-twenties and 30’s and are well aware of what can happen…

[Bound2Fish]

Originally Posted by leeaspell

IBBGSH.... I like it lol.

As for the deaths. It's a risk you have to willing to take. These drugs are made in make shift labs, pretty sire there isn't a whole lot of quality control that goes in to the process. You play with fire you get burned, play the ecstasy, you get dead.

x2, I think if you are willing to risk your life messing around with some randomly created synthetic drug in someones basement, then you must take these things into account including that it might kill you.

It is a terrible thing that these kids are dying, but you run the risk of death when you mess around with these kinds of things.

[CaberTosser]

I've never messed with the stuff, but a newspaper article noted that the pills typically sell for about $5. Stop to think about the profit margins on a $5 item that goes through 2-3 levels of dealers ( manufacturer, wholesale dealer, dealer) ..... These people died for a buck-fifty profit per dealer level....... and you know they're still churning them out. You have to wonder if they were made here or abroad and whether the info that its a killler batch has reached the bathtub alchemist that made it. Its not like they can turn to the R&D department to tweak the recipe......

Chemical street drugs = Russian roulette with only one empty chamber

IBBGSH

[BeeGuy]

The death of young people in a situation like this is due to relegating the drug to the black market.

If drugs were regulated, this would be much less of an issue.

Ecstasy is supposed to be a drug called MDMA, but what is killing these young people is other substances mixed in with it.

When we relegated alcohol to the black market, people died for the same reason. It was mixed with methanol, distilled in old radiators etc.

Every time you have a beer, keep in mind that you are a druggie too. It is part of the human experience.

[Albertadiver]

I knew it wouldn't take long for Beeguy to show up. Where's his sidekick?

[winger7mm]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I' Chemical street drugs = Russian roulette with only one empty chamber

IBBGSH

Good said, other then I think you have a couple more chances then 1 lol, if you rolling an 8 holder, every other chamber is empty

[Okotokian]

Cops need to catch the dealers, test the stuff, and if it's of the sort that is potentially leathal, charge them with attempted murder. That might stop a few.

Feel sad for their families.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Every time you have a beer, keep in mind that you are a druggie too. It is part of the human experience.

HAHA I think there is a HUGE difference here... So I guess when the boys come over to watch a game and I give them a beer... that makes me a "drug dealer"...

[CaberTosser]

Drugs ARE regulated BeeGuy, YFT. These ones are deemed illegal. There are these pesky things called health concerns that the medical commmunity and government regulators use when deciding whats legal and illegal.

BeeGuy; if you're so pro street-drug availability, how's about you head out and see if you can find some bulk Extasy on discount, try a few and report back to us on how great the high was.

[ice]

And this is the outcome of street chemistry,
It's been said before and it'll be said again.
Regulation is the only key, making somthing illegal will not make something, safer or save lives. There will always be a new source, and it's just too bad it's someone looking to make a quick buck instead of a government lab...

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Albertadiver

I knew it wouldn't take long for Beeguy to show up. Where's his sidekick?

Who's my sidekick? Robin or Speedy?

Although something like 7 people have died in this epidemic, some 10,000 Canadians die every year from overdose, 'complications', and adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals.

Here is an informative and creepy review of the pharma-situation in Canada.

An enormous proportion of young people experiment with different substances. It is socially irresponsible to place the production and distribution of recreational substances in the hands of organized (and not-so-organized) crime.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Stewie

So I guess when the boys come over to watch a game and I give them a beer... that makes me a "drug dealer"

Well, "Dealer" might suggest you are making money off it. I'd just say you are a drug pusher. It's classified as a depressant.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

Drugs ARE regulated BeeGuy, YFT. These ones are deemed illegal. There are these pesky things called health concerns that the medical commmunity and government regulators use when deciding whats legal and illegal.

BeeGuy; if you're so pro street-drug availability, how's about you head out and see if you can find some bulk Extasy on discount, try a few and report back to us on how great the high was.

Inform yourself with respect to your first statement. What you wrote has no basis in reality.

Read the article in the link I posted.

I'm not interested in street-drugs or pharmaceuticals, thanks.

I'm not pro-street-drug availability. I'm pro freedom, and pro intelligent social policy.

We know that MILLIONS of Canadians use illegal narcotics, including minors, addicts, and the infirm. Relegating these substances to the black market is socially irresponsible.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by Okotokian

Well, "Dealer" might suggest you are making money off it. I'd just say you are a drug pusher. It's classified as a depressant.

ok thanks for clearing it up Ok... I will have the business cards changed to "pusher" than...

[BlackHeart]

If it was crack or heroin, I would agreed, but.....

You can say the same thing for anyone who has ever smoked pot. And how about if it was laced with PCP or Meth. Would you say the same thing if it was your friend, neighbor, son or co-worker?

Extascy is the new age pot for these kids.

It is a shame that, these individuals lost.

This is part if the problem that results when the govt draws moral lines.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Stewie

HAHA I think there is a HUGE difference here... So I guess when the boys come over to watch a game and I give them a beer... that makes me a "drug dealer"...

What's the huge difference?

500mL of ethanol can kill you.

500g of pot won't.

[BeeGuy]

I love that this issue is discussed every week on the board. It would be great to steer it in the direction of Health Canada in order to clarify the many myths surrounding the Pharma-Biz

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

What's the huge difference?

500mL of ethanol can kill you.

500g of pot won't.

Comparing a beer to an illegal drug like ecstasy… I would say there is a huge difference

[BeeGuy]

What about a dozen beers?

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

What about a dozen beers?

Has anyone ever died driking a case of beer...?

[BeeGuy]

or a 40-pounder of rye?

In the bragging thread we have a 15yr old going off about how he 'can hold his liquor', and would 'go shot for shot with anyone'.

Booze is a hard drug. It kills more people than heroin.

It can, like many things, be used responsibly.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Stewie

Has anyone ever died driking a case of beer...?

yes

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

or a 40-pounder of rye?

In the bragging thread we have a 15yr old going off about how he 'can hold his liquor', and would 'go shot for shot with anyone'.

Booze is a hard drug. It kills more people than heroin.

It can, like many things, be used responsibly.

ya you slam a 40 pounder of Rye your going to have a problem... But I have never heard of someone drinking 12 beers and dying...

[Arachnodisiac]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

I love that this issue is discussed every week on the board. It would be great to steer it in the direction of Health Canada in order to clarify the many myths surrounding the Pharma-Biz

x2

I definitely see that the research conducted here is more cost efficient and not only reaches a scientific conclusion, but indeed solves all of the economic and sociological intricacies associated with drug use. It's a shame this forum wasn't around with the Reagans launched their very long and very costly war on drugs.

[BeeGuy]

There are about 2000 deaths a year in canada attributed to alcohol (not including dui, and 'misadventure').

About 75 of these deaths are from alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol is toxic. When you drink too much and puke, you have alcohol poisoning and your body is trying to get rid of something toxic from your body.

[Okotokian]

I find it odd that this story is getting so LITTLE play in the media. We are getting story after story after story plus hour-long specials on Mothercorp about a boat that tipped over and killed a dozen half a world away. We had the media scare the bejeesus out of us a couple years ago over some deadly virus that killed a handful of Canadians.

yet here is something killing our sons and daughters in pretty significant numbers (about one a month in Calgary alone. What's the national total?) and there is almost nothing.

[Arachnodisiac]

To be fair, H1N1 could have been the big one. I think that for the most part, government and the media actually worked pretty well together in the period where the mortality rate was still unknown.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by Arachnodisiac

To be fair, H1N1 could have been the big one. I think that for the most part, government and the media actually worked pretty well together in the period where the mortality rate was still unknown.

"Could have" didn't warrant the sensationalism, ominous music, frightening graphics. I'm surprised they stopped short of broadcasting "This is how you are going to die". It was a story they grabbed and ran with to get viewers, not to provide a sober update on a potential health problem.