NEW LETHAL ECSTASY HERE: COPS

Winnipeg drug cops say a new lethal version of the club drug ecstasy that
can fry a user's brain may be circulating in the city's rave scene.

"Though we haven't seized a pill with PMA or PMMA (Paramethoxyamphetamine)
in it, it would be naive to think they are not around," said Det.-Sgt.
Brent Benoit of the drug unit.

Called "death" in Australia, where 10 users have died since 1995, the
hallucinogenic stimulant increases the heartbeat, causing takers to
convulse wildly and burn out their nervous systems after several agonizing
hours.

PMA was sold in the U.S. in the late 1970s and '80s as a party drug. Since
it resurfaced in illegal overseas shipments this spring, U.S. health
officials have linked nine deaths to the drug.

Recently, police in Ontario and British Columbia have seized pills laced
with PMA that look identical to other ecstasy tablets.

"PMA and all sorts of other drugs are cut into these tablets. There is no
quality control here. Kids play Russian roulette when they ingest these
pills," Benoit said.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old Winnipegger, who popped an "ecstasy pill" on
Saturday, remains in critical condition at Health Sciences Centre as of
press time.

Police are trying to track the source of the tablet that put the young man
in the hospital's intensive care unit.