Pubdate: Sun, 07 Oct 2001
Source: Observer, The
(UK)
Copyright: 2001 The Observer
Contact: letters@observer.co.ukWebsite:
http://www.observer.co.uk/Details:
http://www.mapinc.org/media/315Author: Giles Tremlett
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm
(Raves)
SAFETY TEST FOR SPANISH DRUG
USERS
Police Back Ecstasy Quality Control At
Raves
In a square in the north-eastern Spanish town of Olot,
Barcelona-based disc
jockey Micky Molino is on a stage, mixing his own-brand
techno-house while
hundreds of people dance. Micky's show may be organised by
the town
council, but this is as close as you get to a full-blown rave in a
quiet
country town best known for its snails.
Not that the young
people of Olot are far behind their big city cousins in
their party habits.
There are plenty of drugs here: cocaine, hash and
ecstasy are all readily
available, fuelling the dance fever.
In fact, Olot is way ahead of most
places in Europe when it comes to drugs
savvy. For here, a stand has been set
up offering an unusual service.
The stand belongs to Energy Control, a
small non-governmental organisation
that has come equipped with chemicals to
test the purity of ecstasy
tablets. The Olot ravers are being offered the
chance to check what is in
their pill before they pop it. Police know Energy
Control is there - but
have agreed to stay away.
An Energy Control
worker, Nuria Calzada, 24, scrapes powder from one tablet
into a solution and
watches it turn purplish-black.
'That means its got MDMA in it,' she
explained afterwards. 'We can't tell
how much, but there is no sign that it
is mixed with amphetamines or
similar stuff.' One happy punter drifts off,
knowing he has not been ripped
off and that, within limits, what he is about
to take is relatively safe.
MDMA, he has been told, is the active ingredient
of ecstasy.
Energy Control cannot tell him how much MDMA there is in the
tablet, but if
he nibbles it slowly and is conscious of the effects, he can
control the
amount he is taking. His pill does not carry any PMA or 4-MTA -
substances
that have proved fatal to ecstasy users.
Energy Control is
at the vanguard of the pill-testing movement - one
sweeping across
Europe.
The movement is beginning to receive official funding in Spain
and other
countries which believe that, where prohibition obviously does not
work, it
is best to help people take their drugs safely.
Now the
European Union's own drug advisory unit, the Lisbon-based European
Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), has added its
voice of
approval. Pill-testing, a report published last week said, not
only helped
save lives but also allowed drug advice organisations to
educate users. If
people cannot be stopped, they can at least be told how
to make ecstasy
consumption safer, by drinking lots of water, for example,
to prevent the
dehydration blamed for some deaths.
'Such groups work, not by
"moralising" or being judgmental, but by giving
instant analyses of a pill's
chemical content and other useful information,
enabling users to weigh up the
risks themselves,' the EMCDDA concluded.
The report, produced by
Austria's CheckIt group, revealed that pill-testing
was already on offer at
house events and clubs in Germany, France, Austria,
Belgium, the Netherlands
and Switzerland.
Authorities became interested in pill-testing after
ecstasy tablets
appeared containing 4-MTA or PMA. Because 4-MTA acts more
slowly than
ecstasy, impatient users were taking two or three pills. When
they kicked
in after three hours, the effects could be lethal. PMA is a
potent
amphetamine-like drug often mixed with a more powerful version of
MDMA
known as PMMA. Such drugs are jointly blamed for recent
deaths.
Gregor Burkhart, EMCDDA project manager, denied that
pill-testing
encouraged ecstasy use and said it allowed advice groups to warn
about
excess. 'Most people think they are just recreational users. They
consider
themselves well-informed and if you are not just as well-informed
you lose
credibility,' he said. 'But there are risks if you combine with
alcohol, if
you experiment too much, if you take it long-term ... just
talking about
this can have a positive
impact.'
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