Warning issued about potentially lethal drug
Media Conference Detective Superintendent Brian McDonald – TIG Winchester Police Centre
23 July 2007 (14:30)
Brian McDonald: ACT Policing are today warning the Canberra community about the presence of a potentially dangerous and new drug that we haven’t seen before this time in the ACT community. The drug is PMA, it is a very dangerous and toxic hallucinogenic, closely related to MDMA which is commonly taken, the ecstasy tablets that we see prevalent in the community. The presence of this drug was located in a toxicology screening that was conducted on a 20-year-old male who died as a result of a drug overdose in the ACT. I’ll say that PMA is very rare; this is the first time it has been seen in the ACT. It has been seen in other areas of Australia and has been recorded as leading to a number of deaths that have happened in other jurisdictions. There is certain symptoms that relate to the usage of PMA, in particular increased blood pressure, heart palpitations and the like, and what we’re asking is firstly, that people don’t take these types of drugs, because you never know what is in them, you don’t know that what the manufacturers will put in them. But if you do happen to take these drugs, and you do suffer from these symptoms please call the ambulance at the very first instance. It is a matter of policy that ACT Policing does not attend non-lethal drug overdoses so people that have taken drugs similar to this and as I say, that do have these symptoms, please make sure that you call the ambulance, or that your friends call the ambulance at the very first sign.
Reporter: How can people determine the difference between PMA and the regular ecstasy drugs?
Brain McDonald: Obviously if they are regular users they will known the normal symptoms that go along with that. In the case of PMA these symptoms will be very much heightened, blood pressure will increase, the heart rate will also increase dramatically. It can lead to coma so I’d imagine that the users themselves will be able to distinguish the differences quite quickly.
Reporter: Is PMA becoming more common in Australia? Is this something that’s been building up over time?
Brian McDonald: No, from the research that we’ve had is that, as I’ve said, it’s been located in several other jurisdictions previously but we are not seeing any great increase in it. But the bottom line is we don’t know what these people will put into these drugs, they’ll put anything into them and that’s why we very much advise against not using these types of drugs.
Reporter: Do you believe the manufacturer of PMA [inaudible].
Brian MacDonald: We have no evidence apart from this one death to suggest that. But that is why we are going at the public today to say: be very careful of the drugs that you are using because that is possible. We can not discount that being the chance.
Reporter: Given it’s the first time it’s been in the ACT this drug, where do you think it’s come from? Has it come from NSW?
Brian McDonald: I wouldn’t be able to say where it came from.
Reporter: I know you didn’t want to focus too heavily on the death, but can you give us the details that you can about where the death occurred and when?
Brian McDonald: No, as I say, at this stage we’d prefer not to do that. This isn’t so much about the death of this unfortunate person. This is more about the public safety message; to be able to say please, in the first instance don’t use these drugs, but if you do, be aware of the symptoms, be confident to ring ACT Ambulance service and have them attend at the very first opportunity.
Reporter: [inaudible] produced in Australia or is it produced overseas?
Brian McDonald: l don’t have that information.
Reporter: What’s ACT Policing doing at the moment to stamp this out and make sure it doesn’t happen again?
Brian McDonald: We have obviously a very stringent policy in relation to the use of illicit drugs, very much aimed at the dealers and we’ve been conducting a number of operations over a period of time that have been quite successful.
Reporter: You were saying the a 20-year-old person that has died of an overdose and PMA was found. Was it the direct cause of the death of was it a contributing factor?
Brian McDonald: That’s still being investigated and that would actually be a matter for the Coroner to determine during that process.
Reporter: So what happens here for police, are you doing an extra crackdown on looking at drugs, what’s the sort of investigation that you can do?
Brian McDonald: As I said, the dealing in illicit drugs is always a very high priority for ACT Policing and we’re continuing our vigilance in that area both from the Territory Investigation Group perspective and also from all other areas of ACT Policing.
Reporter: Is there anything you can tell us about the facts and figures about how many people take ecstasy in the ACT, how often you find drugs something to give us scope.
Brian McDonald: I don’t have that information with me but I think you’ll find if you do some research there is quite a deal of material out there that talks about a number of surveys, community surveys that are taken. I can’t think of the name of the drug agency that does that but it is quite an informative piece, so that’s been published recently with the most recent figures. So that information is there, I just don’t have it with me.
Reporter: Do other police in other jurisdictions [inaudible]
Brian McDonald: They have previously yes.
Reporter: How are they responding?
Brian McDonald: I’m not aware of any sort of distinct strategies that have been put in place in relation to PMA. My understanding would be is it’s the same as how we deal with other types of illicit drugs that are all very dangerous in their own right.
Reporter: On the issue of increasing security checks for people who request SIM cards for mobile phones, do you think it would be good to monitor [inaudible].
Brian McDonald: I can’t comment on that from my perspective. I’m aware I think that the NSW jurisdiction is looking at that type of legislation. It would be something that we would need to have a look at in a holistic approach before we’d make any comment on that.
Reporter: So the ACT [inaudible].
Brian McDonald: I’m not aware of that being the case. But as I said, I’m not always in a position to make that definitive comment either.
Reporter: How much of a role [inaudible].
Brian McDonald: That’s not something I’d be willing to comment on at this stage, I don’t have all of those stats, I obviously came prepared for another matter. So if you wish to talk about those I think that’s something we’d have to leave for a later time.
Reporter: Just on the original matter, so you work with NSW Police in regard to the death?
Brian McDonald: Not at this particular time we’re not, however on these drug matters we do work with NSW Police and other jurisdictions as well, both federally and state on drug investigations.
Reporter: Thank you.
Ends//