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Anna

> Imported Drug Hits Nightclubs
> http://www.orlandosentinel.com/interact/messageboards/
> > Author: Henry Pierson Curtis
> >
> > NEW FATAL IMPORTED DRUG HITS NIGHTCLUBS
> >
> > Able to poach a victim`s brain like an egg, a new drug being sold on
> > Central Florida`s nightclub scene has set off a statewide alert after
> being
> > tied to six deaths.
> >
> > The pills burn out users` central nervous systems by raising body
> > temperatures to as high as 108 degrees, Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner
> Dr.
> > Shashi Gore said Wednesday.
> >
> > Costing as little as $10, each dose is white, slightly larger than an
> > aspirin and is stamped with three diamonds in the shape of a Mitsubishi
> > logo. The pills, which have no connection with the Japanese company,
> > apparently came from illegal labs in Germany and Denmark. They appeared
> in
> > the United States last spring and caused the deaths of three young
people
> > in the Chicago area, according to drug agents.
> >
> > Paramethoxyamphetamine, or PMA, is the latest in a series of illegal
> > drug-related health threats in greater Orlando that began with crack
> > cocaine in the mid-1980s and continued with heroin, Ecstasy and GHB in
> the
> > 1990s. The so-called Mitsubishi pills contain a mixture of Ecstasy and
> PMA,
> > said Gore and drug agents.
> >
> > Authorities do not know when the pills first arrived in Central Florida,
> > but the drug was first detected in July after Wuesthoff Reference
> > Laboratories in Melbourne ran comprehensive drug screens on a suspected
> > Ecstasy overdose victim. On Tuesday, the federal Drug Enforcement
> > Administration issued a warning that routine drug screens would not
detect
> > PMA.
> >
> > The Wuesthoff tests showed that five of seven Ecstasy-related deaths in
> > Orange and Osceola counties this year involved PMA. Two of those five
> > deaths came during a triple overdose Labor Day weekend. Two young men
> died
> > after being ejected from a Lee Road nightclub. The third survived.
> >
> > "I only go to the press when it`s really important," Gore said in
> > announcing the health threat. "I feel so bad seeing these young people
> dying."
> >
> > In addition to those five victims, a woman who died in Lake County may
> have
> > bought the drug in Orlando. PMA in her blood was found by a laboratory
in
> > Gainesville.
> >
> > A Wuesthoff supervisor said there have been no other confirmed PMA
deaths
> > in Florida.
> >
> > A spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner`s Office said
> > recent overdoses likely would be reviewed. The decision was made Tuesday
> > after the state Medical Examiners Commission issued a statewide alert on
> > the deaths in Orlando.
> >
> > Nothing about the taste or initial euphoria from taking a diamond pill
> > alerts drug users they may be on the verge of a fatal experience.
> According
> > to the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, PMA shares hallucinogenic
> > qualities with mescaline and Ecstasy. The first sign of impending death
> is
> > a soaring temperature.
> >
> > Stupor can follow within an hour. By then, widespread bleeding of the
> brain
> > and internal organs may have begun. Prompt emergency medical care does
> not
> > guarantee survival, according to records of cases in Britain, Canada and
> a
> > series of 10 deaths in Australia.
> >
> > In two Orlando deaths, drug agents said, the victims were found twisting
> > and flipping on the floor like fish out of water.
> >
> > All of the local PMA victims consumed more than one drug, which is
> typical
> > of overdose victims associated with the nightclub and rave scene, Gore
> > said. The other drugs included alcohol, Valium and marijuana. It`s
> possible
> > the combinations and taking more than one dose contributed to their
> deaths,
> > he said.
> >
> > There is no known safe dose for PMA.
> >
> > Heroin remains the primary killer of Central Florida drug users. There
> have
> > been 20 confirmed heroin-related deaths this year in Orange and Osceola
> > counties. Thirty-two more overdose deaths include at least two from GHB,
> > five from PMA mixed with Ecstasy and two from Ecstasy, according to the
> > Medical Examiner`s Office.
> >



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