Ever heard of PMA? It's a relatively new drug on the scene which has similar effects to Ecstasy, and therefore many people are using it to manufacture what they are claiming are Ecstasy tablets. However, PMA is a lot more dangerous than MDMA. para-Methoxyamphetamine, or 4-methoxyamphetamine, is also known as "Dr. Death" or sometimes simply just "Death". PMA is already a Class A substance in the UK and several deaths have been linked to it. The fact is that Ecstasy users are dying because they are being given pills containing PMA rather than MDMA.
I haven't heard of it before, but that doesn't sound good. Of course, the people that manufacture the drugs don't realize how dangerous they are, nor do they care, as long as they can get ahold of them. Then the users either don't know what's actually in their drug or choice, or they wind up thinking that PMA is something that's better than MDMA. It's not a good situation by any means.
There are actually some very dodgy Ecstasy pills going around in my part of the world at the moment, I know people who have taken them but claim that the effects were very different from the 'classic' Ecstasy tablets they used to take years ago. It wouldn't surprise me at all if these tablets are actually made with PMA. It's definitely not a good situation at all. Ecstasy (MDMA) was verified by the UK government to be reasonably safe (within reason) a few years ago, safer than horse riding in fact, but it looks like PMA is undoubtedly going to change that situation for the worse.
Personally, I don't know why people buy their street-made drugs in pill form. Sure, what is sold as MDMA crystals can be laced or another drug all together, but you can at lest see the colouring of the drug or even do a purification if you're not abundantly lazy. It's insane how much harm reduction is tossed out the window in the world of drug use.
Pills (Ecstasy) tend to be, or at least used to be, widely available and very popular in the UK at one time and whilst they are not so widely available these days, they do still go round. However, substances like MDMA are actually quite rare in most parts of the UK and would be extremely difficult to get hold of. I'm not sure exactly why this is. Maybe it's just to do with the greed of the suppliers and dealers (cutting in with other substances to make more profit).
That must be it. I can't see any reason to press a street drug into a pill other than to hide the contents of said pill.
I suppose there is also the fact that it looks less suspicious. If a person is in possession of a powdered substance in a small bag then that's clearly a drug they shouldn't be in possession of. But if it's in pill form then that tablet could be anything (painkiller, antidepressant) in the view of other people. It would also be easier to dispose of with less risk of getting caught.
It is my first time to read something about it and I have never heard of it yet. Just my its name "Death" and the number of deaths associated with it, it should be removed or totally not manufactured.
Here's what I've found out about it: it was first synthesized in 1967 by Alexander Shulgin, the Godfather of Ecstasy, and he warned people to stay away from it. There are 30-million Ecstasy tablets consumed in the UK each year by half-a-million users. It is not known how many of those pills contain PMA. Seventeen people in the UK died from consuming PMA in 2012, most likely believing they were taking Ecstasy/MDMA. It's also sometimes called Pink Ecstasy and is usually pink in colour. It's a Class A drug in the UK but criminals are manufacturing it.
Meaning it is illegal there? Well, illegal drugs problem is really huge in most countries even authorities cannot do a lot about it since it involved huge amount of money.
Yes, it's illegal in the UK. Yes, most countries have huge problems with illegal (especially synthetic) drugs. It's not really something that authorities can do anything about seeing as anyone can just decide to start manufacturing it. Of course, they also have to allow so much of it to happen anyway and are probably involved in that somewhere along the line or crime rates would be down, there would be less need for policing and they wouldn't make as much money from convictions for possession, supplying, etc meaning the justice system would lose out on a lot of money.
It's a good thing that synthetic drugs are unheard of where i reside because i honestly believe that the number of deaths associated with such kinds of drugs would be unprecedented. The worst we have locally available are hashish,heroin and marijuana.
That is another sad truth, the authorities are involved into drugs because it could give them lots of money. There are also authorities that are users.
There's a lot more than that going around in my area at the moment. Cocaine, Marijuana and Heroin are probably the most popular. Ecstasy wasn't seen locally for many years but is now making a comeback but as stated, it's not proper Ecstasy and it contains PMA. Mephedrone/Mcat is also another extremely popular drug around here. Amphetamine and Ketamine is also quite popular around here recently.
I have never heard of this PMA before, but I guess everyone should be very aware of what drugs they are taking to avoid complications. People should not patronize any kind of ecstasy anymore as we all know that a lot of users have already been dying due to this drug.
Too true. If I remember correctly, I think it was about 35,000 people who died from taking Ecstasy in the UK between 2006 and 2010. Obviously, it was very popular and very widespread back then. Despite those deaths, the UK government went on to deem Ecstasy as being relatively safe (safer than horse riding, based on statistics) although it always remained a Class-A drug.