Europe-wide rise in ecstasy quality triggers surge in demand

Gardaí have seen a "huge increase" in demand for ecstasy this year on the back of a surge in the production of high-quality MDMA in Europe.

After many years of a drop-off in the manufacture of MDMA, producers have again been able to access the chemicals, known as precursors, needed to make the drug. MDMA is the chemical name for pure ecstasy.

At the end of last year, the EU drug agency warned about the availability of "high-dosage tablets and high-purity powder" on the market. They also warned about the circulation of PMMA, an amphetamine, previously found in a number of "legal high" products. Since the summer of 2010, this drug has been linked to the deaths of 19 people across Europe.

Last July, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency issued an alert over PMMA, which was circulating in both tablet and powder form, the latter in head shop stores. Figures from the State Forensic Science Laboratory here indicate a noticeable shift in the ecstasy market in recent years.

Between 2005 and 2008, gardaí seized around 100,000-150,000 tablets a year. That fell to 18,000 tablets in 2009 and just 400 in 2010. At the same time, seizures of an alternative stimulant, BZP, jumped, from 37,000 tablets in 2008 to 365,000 in 2009 and 350,000 in 2010. "For years the quality of the ecstasy, the MDMA, was just not there," said a Garda source. "The market was flooded with drugs like BZP."

The market began to change last year, with seizures of MDMA again reaching 100,000 tablets, as seizures of BZP tablets fell to 27,000.

But, in the last eight months, gardaí there has been a "huge increase" in ecstasy. "Ecstasy is back on the scene," said a Garda source. "There has been an increased demand for ecstasy products because the quality of them have gone back up." He said intelligence and information from the street had supported this view. Seizure figures to date are not available, but initial reports suggest in excess of 90,000 ecstasy tablets have been seized.

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Source: Cormac O'Keefe, Irish Examiner, 13/09/2012