Police in Malaysia are shaking down the party scene after discovering
designer pills or party drugs flooding the streets, with many customers being
professionals and high-income earners.
The authorities are alarmed by
the sharp increase in the number of pills seized 4.13 million in the first half
of this year compared to 87,000 for the whole of 2011.
Getting high on party drugs is
becoming increasingly dangerous as the components in the cocktail of stimulants
have become more deadly compared with the party pills available a decade ago.
Federal Narcotics Crime
Investigation Department chief Commissioner Noor Rashid Ibrahim said syndicates
had set up more laboratories, hiring chemists from China and the Netherlands
and acquiring state-of-the-art equipment to synthesise the drugs.
“Their aim is to satisfy their
customers with a product that has been adulterated to avoid it being
categorised as a dangerous drug while having the same effect.
“The active ingredients are
constantly changed with chemicals not listed under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952
(which carries the death penalty),” he said.
A check with the Chemistry
Department showed that since 2000, Ecstasy pills which traditionally used to
contain up to 30 per cent-40 per cent of its active ingredient
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are now being added with other kinds of
drugs such as ketamine (a type of anaesthetic usually used in animals) and
methamphetamine or syabu (a stimulant).
MDMA and methamphetamine are
synthetic drugs that act on the nerves in the brain causing those who take them
to experience euphoria temporarily.
Chronic use, however, can cause
confusion and depression and high doses of either one can also lead to fatal heart
and liver failures.
Besides deadly drugs listed in
the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, the makers of party drugs also add caffeine as an
adulterant or cutting (diluting) agent.
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