MDMA tablet

The volume of 3,4-MDP-2-P seizures for 2003 was the lowest reported since 1998 other than the Netherlands, only Estonia reported seizures of the substance during 2003. The latter case is particularly noteworthy as the seizure of 3,4-MDP-2-P was made at an MDMA (Ecstasy) laboratory and, in addition to the precursor, 26,000 MDMA tablets and 60 litres of liquid MDMA were also seized. More importantly, the authorities of Estonia, in cooperation with their counterparts from the Russian Federation, launched backtracking investigations to identify the source of the seized 3,4-MDP-2-P. That investigation led to the identification and dismantling of a laboratory illicitly manufacturing 3,4-MDP-2-P in the Russian Federation... 

More common than pure Ecstasy overdoses, it is not unusual to take too much of a laced Ecstasy tablet. Pure MDMA tablets are increasingly rare, as suppliers aim to lace the drug with additional chemicals to either increase the high, increase the addictiveness, or just maximize their profit by putting cheaper chemicals in the tablets. 

MDMA tablets are often smuggled into the country by couriers who are paid by drug traffickers to smuggle and deliver the tablets (Figure 6.3). These couriers use commercial flights. 

Though regular drug users will frequently modify their ingestion methods to hasten the impact of the drug s effects, such as grinding MDMA tablets into... 

Complicating our ability to evaluate toxic reactions to MDMA is the fact that tablets sold on the street as MDMA often contain other drugs that in some cases may also be toxic. Adulterants are so common in street Ml MA that one website (www.dancc-safe.org) posts a page with pictures of commonly. sold MDMA tablets along with the results of their chemical analysis. Many different compounds have been revealed in these analyses, but among the more common adulterants in samples posted in the last half of 2005 were methamphctaminc, caffeine, and dextromethorphan. Interestingly, many of the samples contained no active chemical at all (sec Parrott, 2004) ... 

The vast majority of ecstasy consumed domestically is produced in Europe. It costs as little as 25 to 50 cents to manufacture an ecstasy tablet in Europe, but the street value of that same ecstasy tablet can be as high as 40, with a tablet typically selling for between 20 and 30. A limited number of ecstasy laboratories operate in the United States. Law enforcement seized 17 clandestine ecstasy laboratories in the United States in 2001 compared to 7 seized in 2000. United States Customs Service statistics show a dramatic increase in seiznres of MDMA tablets. In fiscal year 1997, approximately 400,000 MDMA tablets were seized, compared to approximately 7.2 milhon tablets seized in fiscal year 2001. On Inly 22,2000, approximately 2.1 milhon tablets worth an estimated 40 million were seized in Los Angeles. To date this is the largest seiznre of MDMA tablets in the United States. ... 

Figure 4 Typicai gas chromatographic impurity profiies of different MDMA sampies. The big peak at retention time 12.2 min (after peak no. 12) corresponds to MDMA. Peaks 7, 3,4-meth-ylenedioxy-A/-melhyibenzyiamine 10, 3,4-methyienedioxyphenyi-2-propanone 12, 3,4-methyienedioxy-phenyi-2-propanoi 16, /V-ethyl-3,4-methyienedioxyamphetamine 17, A/,A/-dimethyi-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine 18, 1-(1,2-dimethyi-1-azacyciop-ropyl)methyl-3,4-methylenedioxybenzene 21, caffeine 24, palmitic acid 28, stearic acid. (Reproduced with permission from Palhol F, Boyer S, Naulet N, and Chabrillat M (2002) Impurity profiling of seized MDMA tablets by capillary gas chromatography. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 374 274-281 Springer-Verlag.)...

Palhol F, Boyer S, Naulet N, and Chabrillat M (2002) Impurity profiling of seized MDMA tablets by capillary gas chromatography. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 374 274-281. 

Mas et al. [162] measured the carbon isotope values in a randomly chosen set of confiscated 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy) tablets using GC-IRMS. Within the samples analyzed, at least four different groups of MDMA tablets were identified based on the carbon isotope values. The research showed that further discrimination could be achieved using the nitrogen isotope values. 

Palhol, F, Lamoureux, C., Naulet, N. (2003) N isotopic analyses a powerful tool to establish links between seized 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) tablets. Ana/. Bioanal. Chem., 376,486-490. 

Cheng, W. C., et al. "Chemical Profiling erf 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) Tablets Seized in Hong Kong." Jcmrml cf Forensic Sciences, 48 2003, 1249-1259. 

The authors interpret the toxicology report as confirming that the MDMA pills ingested by the patient were pure and not adulterated. About 5% of MDMA is metabolised to MDA. They further assert that death from pure MDMA is a rare event given its widespread use. However, most deaths from MDMA involve hyperthermia as the cause of death. As this patient had severe hyperkalaemia from extreme rhabdomyolysis, this may be an underestimated killer in pure MDMA intoxications. The authors caution that a pure MDMA tablet contains 75 mg of MDMA but in recent years, especially in Netherlands, higher doses up to 200mg/tablet have been reported thus increasing the risks of adverse events more frequently. 

The threshold dose of MDMA is 30 mg, but the average dose is 80-150 mg, with some users taking in excess of 200 mg. The lethal dose is estimated (from animal data) to be approximately 6,000 mg. On the street, concentrations of MDMA can vary greatly, and tablets may also contain other substances such as methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and methylenedioxy-ethylamphetamine (MDEA) (Sherlock et al. 1999). The presence of these other substances is often associated with emergency presentations because of their narrower therapeutic windows. 

Parrott AC (2004). Is Ecstasy MDMA A review of the proportion of ecstasy tablets containing MDMA, and the changing perceptions of their purity. Psychopharmacology (in press). 

MDMA is usually taken by mouth as a tablet, capsule, or powder, but it can also be smoked, snorted, or injected. Taken by mouth, effects last 4 to 6 hours. 

Street names for MDMA, besides ecstasy, include Adam, E, ecsta eve. Eve, H-bomb (with heroin), hug drug, love drug, M, pikachu (with PCP), psychedelic amphetamine, Versace, X, and XTC. Tablets of ecstasy usually have imprinted monograms. Some examples include E-mail, D G, Rolex, Nike, Fred Flint-stone, Pokemon, Batman, and cupid. 

In animal studies, even a single dose of MDMA caused damage to serotonin neurons 12 to 18 months after the dose. This bears repeating a single dose of MDMA, similar to the amount that most people take in one tablet, kills the cells in your brain that are essential in keeping a person happy. Furthermore, those cells are still dead or damaged a year or more... 

MDMA is most often taken orally in a typical dose range per tablet of 50 to 100 mg.57 58 Neurotoxicity of MDMA to serotonergic systems has been demonstrated in animal studies therefore for ethical reasons most research has been accomplished using light to heavy MDMA users. Methodological confounds associated with this include the sometimes extensive previous or concurrent use of other drugs, the existence of premorbid psychiatric syndromes often not explored or reported, and variability in the components of sheet drugs sold as ecstasy. ... 

Overdose is usually characterized by an extremely elevated body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Combining ecstasy with other drugs may or may not be intentional, since the true contents of an ecstasy tablet or capsule are rarely known to the user. For example, PMA, sold with or in place of MDMA as ecstasy, takes nearly four times longer than MDMA to take effect therefore the user might take extra doses thinking the original was not adequate. Multiple doses, coupled... 

A study conducted in Australia, which analyzed the purity of ecstasy tablets seized by police, for example, found on average the MDMA content to be a little more than a third of the total—the rest being a mix of heroin, PCP, speed, caffeine, ketamine, and other fillers. 

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