Plummeting Ecstasy price blamed for surge in deaths in Britain

By JEREMY LAURANCE in London

The plummeting price of Ecstasy sold in British clubs was blamed yesterday for a six-fold increase in deaths linked with the drug.

Coroners' reports show 202 deaths caused by Ecstasy over the last six years, rising from 12 in 1996 to 72 in 2001-2002. One in seven of those who died was under 19.

Researchers from St George's Hospital Medical School, who analysed the figures, said the fall in the price of the drug was a key factor behind the rising death rate. It has halved since 1994, when tablets cost about £16.50 ($45.64) each, to less than £7 ($19.36) today.

Unlike heroin, where deaths are linked to an overdose of the drug, Ecstasy has been known to kill in doses of as little as one to two tablets, said Dr Fabrizio Schifano, who led the research.

"There are some young women who, because of their hormonal balance, have a different metabolism of Ecstasy. But you don't know in advance what will happen to you before you take the drug. With heroin you know that if you take an overdose it could kill you. But with Ecstasy it is different. That is the problem."

An estimated 780,000 young people take Ecstasy regularly in the United Kingdom.

The study, the largest conducted so far, found three-quarters of those who died were under 29 and most had mixed Ecstasy with other drugs.

Schifano said: "Many people now combine Ecstasy with alcohol at the beginning of the evening to get a greater high, then use drugs like amphetamine or cocaine to prolong the effect, before taking opiates or high doses of alcohol to calm themselves down at the end of the evening. It's a potentially lethal cocktail."

The research, published in Human Psychopharmacology, showed one in six of those who died had not taken any other drug.

"This clears up the debate once and for all - Ecstasy alone can kill," Schifano said.

He said Ecstasy could cause death by a combination of hyperthermia (overheating) and hyponatraemia, a fall in the blood salt level which causes the brain to swell.

- INDEPENDENT