ECSTATIC OVER A DRUG BUST

On Thursday morning, news broke that Port aux Basques RCMP had seized
a large quantity of marijuana and ecstasy from a house in Port aux Basques.

The story posted to The Gulf News website went slightly viral, at
least in local terms, gathering over four thousand hits in a few
hours. Few stories get that many hits in a week.

It shows the interest and the concern people have in our community
about illicit drugs.

It's no secret that many in our society see marijuana as a relatively
harmless recreation drug. Even some of those leaving comments on our
web story said marijuana needs to be legalized while criticizing
those who sell ecstasy. The federal Liberals passed a motion to
legalize pot at their recent convention.

Ecstasy, on the other hand, is scary for many citizens because of how
it is manufactured and what it can do.

There's really no telling what one is getting when purchasing an
ecstasy tablet. Technically, ecstasy is the street name for a drug
called MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine). However, pills on the
street are more likely to be a rough mixture of MDMA, amphetamine,
methamphetamine, ephedrine and caffeine, among other things,
according to Wikipedia.

What this means is users can be playing Russian roulette by taking
even one pill. Health officials in British Columbia say 16 people
died in that province from ecstasy overdoses last year. A recent
spate of deaths in Western Canada were linked to ecstasy pills
manufactured with a lethal drug called PMMA.

We're left to wonder if the 3,000 pills were meant for our small
corner of the island, or if they were just on their way to larger
markets in the rest of the province.

Although some have criticized the so-called war on drugs waged by
western governments, there aren't many people in Port aux Basques who
aren't thankful today that members of our local RCMP were able to
prevent these dangerous and potentially lethal pills from hitting our streets.

Kudos to the RCMP in this matter.