Revived ecstasy floods WA
WA is flooded with the drug ecstasy as police seizures rise sevenfold and 96 per cent of users surveyed say it is easy to get.
After a worldwide shortage in 2009 and 2010, ecstasy has had a resurgence among WA drug users with new forms of MDMA, including crystals and powder, more prevalent and popular.
Organised crime syndicates are believed to be behind its availability on WA streets.
Figures exclusive to _The West Australian _ reveal the number of seizures in WA last financial year rose 166 per cent to 306.
The 115 seizures in 2011-12 yielded 470g. That rocketed to 3.8kg in 2012-13, a 708 per cent rise. Purity levels were also up 18 to 25 per cent.
Insp. Chris Adams said continued proactive organised crime squad work and joint agency investigations into illicit drugs in WA were behind the dramatic increase in ecstasy seizures.
He said most ecstasy seized in 2012-13 was in powder form.
Curtin University National Drug Research Institute deputy director Simon Lenton said the police figures confirmed what users told him about ecstasy's comeback.
Of 100 regular ecstasy users surveyed in WA for the national Ecstasy and Related Drug Reporting System report, 96 said it was either very easy or easy to get in WA, compared with the national tally of 86 per cent.
More than 30 said they used ecstasy weekly or more often, 33 regularly binged on it and 93 used it with other drugs.
An ecstasy tablet in WA is still the most expensive in Australia, equal with the Northern Territory at $35 and compared with just $20 in South Australia.
Professor Lenton said the new forms of ecstasy, including crystal, capsules and powder, emer- ged only in recent years during the "downturn" of ecstasy pills.
"We're seeing changes in the market in terms of new forms being available, which some people may not have experienced before," he said.
"The potency and side effects can change quite quickly because people are getting a drug different to the form they're used to."
Australian Medical Association WA spokesman Dave Mountain said ecstasy being more available was a concern and that any "additional burden" would find its way into hospital emergency departments and wards.
