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A WARNING ABOUT a batch of bad drugs being circulated in Belfast has been issued by PSNI officers.
The alert comes after a man died suddenly last night.
Emergency services were called to a house at Thornhill Court in Dunmurry at about 7.40pm. The man, who – through initial reports to police – is believed to have taken yellow ‘Speckled Rolex’ ecstasy died at the scene.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out today.
Four other males were also taken to hospital for treatment and they are now said to be in a stable condition.
The PSNI has urged members of the public not to take Speckled Rolex ecstasy tablets and to dispose of any illegal substances.
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In my book anybody who is brain dead enough to take this crap or any other illegal drug that is made and produced in back street filthy dens of iniquity deserve all they get,no sympathy for them. Everybody has free will and free agency,no one forces you to take drugs. People are more educated than ever on the dangers and consequences of taking them. If you dance with the devil you’ll get burned,simple as. Best way to avoid being poisoned by bad drugs ? Eh very simple,DON’T TAKE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE !!!!!
No ones going to listen to your narrow view. Heroin, Meth and Coke are bad, MDMA doesn’t kill in normal doses and is not addictive. Needs to be legal ways of getting it checked.
Watch you don’t fall off that high horse. It might hurt…
You sound like a 1950s public health message. Trying to use your cool kat lingo. “Dance with the devil”… Lol.
What’s your answer to impending death from the bomb? Duck and cover?
Drugs are mugs
Just say no Stephan!
Mugs are cups.
You are an idiot, and typical of the muppets who flick to church each Sunday.
Stephen before you go decrying this man further – remember there could be a child waking up today to the news that he or she no longer has a father.
Yeah, but that doesn’t matter scarr, as long as Stephen gets to keep that moral high ground. Screw people who make mistakes. They deserve to die.
These pills are hardly made in “filthy street dens of inquiry”, its not as if anyone can just make ecstasy in an alley, you would have to have some skills and know what you are doing, however the people who make ‘dirty pills’ and label them as mdma are skum and deserve to be locked up. The fact that mdma is illegal and unregulated is the reason they’re risks attached to it. Clean mdma is a safe drug if you’re not an idiot, the same can be said for other ‘drugs’ such as alcohol, cannabis and psychedelics.
You see many people out smoking cigarettes lately?
self-righteous assclown Stephen, it’s the likes of you that depresses a sane person, how dare you preach from your pedestal about your lack of sympathy for that guy who died – your sociopathic worldview makes this problem with drugs in our country unsolvable.
The fact that OP’s post has gotten so many green arrows makes me worried. Uneducated drivel.
Totally agree with you Stephen Duggan. If people are stupid enough to take drugs they need to accept the consequences, even if that is death. And yes maybe someone is waking up today with no father but I say shame on the father for foolishly and selfishly putting himself before his child. Everyone knows the risks of drugs and only a selfish eejit would mess with them.
Would you show the same blatant lack of compassion if a friend of yours died from lung cancer caused by tobacco use, or perhaps liver failure as a result of an alcohol addiction?
Maybe you should try MDMA Dodima, it’ll certainly make you more empathetic towards others and thus a nicer, less self-righteous person.
My mother died of cancer 16 years ago and yes I think smoking is stupid too but at least with alcohol or cigarettes one drink or 1 normal cigarette is not going to kill you but prolonged use can lead to cancers or liver failure.
Everyone knows that single use of illegal drugs like ecstasy, heroine, cocaine can cause death. It’s not necessarily the drug but the crap it’s mixed with. Anyone who knows the risks and still chooses to take a pill or line or whatever is just thick.
But we have a large number of thick people.
Look around on Friday or Saturday night. Or on New Years coming up.
People, falling all over the place drunk, sitting in the middle of the road with cars driving around them, climbing stuff for no apparent reason, getting lairy, starting fights, some are even thick enough to get behind the wheel after a few.
I just hope they all sleep on their sides, otherwise they run the risk of choking to death on vomit.
And yet people drink themselves into this state regularly. We lose many lives in this country to alcohol, but not necessarily to liver disease. And despite all the well meaning drink aware campaigns, we still do it – there’s no such thing as being moderately drunk, you have to get blotto.
In fact, it’s probably even more thick than taking a drug that has a less than 1% chance of being dodgy, and yet – look how many do it!
People will always take drugs. Be it they don’t value their health enough(like drinkers) (junk food eaters) etc or that they look up to stupid role models /peer groups who do likewise. Why not make it legally as safe as possible. That way you can educate & provide a non poisonous product while lowering criminal profits. Oh no wait. Your way is better. Random deaths, criminal wealth & no improvement. We’re meant to evolve
Spot on Barry. Prohibition is making for a more dangerous environment, with crappy, dangerous drugs and easy funding for gangland thugs.
Barry at the moment they foolishly believe that they can somehow stop the drug traffickers and the country will one day be drug free! This is of course complete nonsense!
More knowledge and education at a young age about how harmful drugs can be , would be money well spent.
At Students for Sensible Drug Policy we aim to create a platform to directly engage students with health professionals and academics involved with drugs in the hope of creating future more proactive drug policies that have currently FAILED TO PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
http://www.facebook.com/SSDPIreland
@SSDPIreland
Couldn’t agree more . When are our policy makers and the policy makers of the world going to realise that people are always going to take drugs and always have done . Why are we allowing criminal gangs to become millionaires by selling impure drugs when , with a little political will , one could go to their local pharmacy and by a safe product which could be taxed . Present policies are pure lunacy and they regularly cause unnecessary deaths !
Politicians are scared about being soft about drugs. We’re going to make sure they start getting scared about being SMART about drugs. Want to learn how to join or start an SSDP chapter in your area? email us at dars@uccsocieties.ie for more info
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Not all drugs are the same but it’s probably also worth considering the negative consequences of legalising drugs – all the crime just won’t go away, the access to addiction specialists will not meet demand ( I’m not talking about the revenue raised from tax but rather the professional expertise) and just because it’s inevitable that people will take drugs doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to legalise it – motorists will inevitably speed therefore we should decriminalise speeding…. Much of the burden on our health services is down to the negative health consequences of lifestyle choices, smoking, excessive eating drinking, poor rest/exercise patterns; why throw the doors open to less restrictions, increased accessibility and what makes you so sure there will be fewer deaths?
Drugs are bad mkay
Drugs have ravaged this country for decades now ,especially inner city Dublin and other major cities,towns and villages across the country . Not only are they responsible for countless deaths and the ruin of countless families,but are the main catalyst for gangland crime in Ireland . If anybody thinks that’s getting on a high horse or preaching from the pulpit by condemning drug taking well than its obvious to me that you don’t live in the real world.
The real world where people take all types of drugs everyday. You sound like you have lived a good sheltered catholic life
More people die because of alcohol in this country than all illegal drugs combined !!
In addition it’s circular logic that such deaths are a reason to keep them illegal.
The fact that they are illegal means there’s nobody regulating their contents, there are no warnings on packets (cos there are no packets) saying ‘check with your GP to ensure you have no preexisting heart conditions before using this substance’.
So their illegality makes them more dangerous, and then deaths are caused…which leads to people thinking they are so dangerous they need to be criminalized.
Circular logic.
Was there addiction and overdose when they were legal? Yes absolutely, was it anywhere NEAR the scale we have now? Not at all.
It’s not as black and white as ‘sure just decriminalize them all and all problems are solved’ but at the very least we have to admit the current systems not working and carefully try out new approaches.
@ Stephen, surely you are including alcohol and cigarettes in your argument.
See the x tabs can kill you instantly and it makes for a far more shocking headline ”19 year old dies from bad ecstasy”.
That’s a lot more likely to get worried parents to buy the paper. It won’t get them in the same panic if they point out how rare death from ecstasy actually is, put it in the context of the cancer deaths from nicotine and the liver damage from alcohol etc
It’s still dangerous..I don’t think anyone denies that. But the danger has to be placed in context of other dangerous substances and in the context of a bad drug policy thats just not working.
Taking ecstasy is as dangerous as riding a bicycle for 20miles.
Its also as dangerous as riding a motorbike for 6miles.
Not many people would consider either of these activities ‘overly dangerous’ would they? Well the same applies to ecstasy taking.
A well know professor likened it to being no dangerous than horse riding.
Read Drugs:Without the hot Air by Professor David Nutt.
its views like stephen duggans that help cause these deaths ….. the sad irony
yes, with you for their neighbour Stephen
Sure its most likely not mdma thats to blame here! Its whatever drug (pma) that was passed off & sold as ecstasy that this person consumed & killed him. But ssshhhhh Father Duggan wont want to hear any facts.
I think there’s certain people out there who don’t think it’s possible to hold the following two opinions simultaneously:
1. The drug wars a failure and our current policy needs to change and grown adults should be allowed take their own calculated risks without the state nannying them.
2. Kids should not take drugs.
It is possible. It’s even possible to be opposed to the drug war without ever having taken any drug in your whole life.
I understand they have to issue a warning but the drug may not be solely to blame here – did the man have a minor heart problem? Did he take too many? Did he not hydrate properly? Was he taking other drugs simultaneously ( including alcohol). Sad situation though.
As with everything in the environment that humans may ingest, there’s something of an unavoidable genetic lottery, or rather spectrum of response. Any parent or family with a person who has one of the many ‘outlier’ but ‘chronic’ medical issues knows this.
It’s arguably all a matter of risk/reward in much of human life in it’s entirety.
But it’s far more likely this unfortunate young person consumed something they did not intend.
Such a fraudulently described product is mostly an avoidable cause.
For information about recent adulterants to MDMA or ‘E’ or ‘pills’ Google PMA & PMMA.
Psychoactive drug use, and addictions to anything, including non-drug addictions like gambling are +medical+ issues and should not involve criminal law for adult users.
The answer is to legalise and regulate.
One might think that the alcohol profit racketeers, which includes governments of course, would be too embarrassed about all the harm their products do to fight tooth and nail against sensible drug legislation – at least as regards comparison with substances that do far less harm even unregulated.
Alcohol is big, big business. And business buys the politics it needs.
It’s always about ‘Power’ – the Power to decide and the Power to communicate thru’ mass media. Just follow the money.
Strangely, we still call this ‘democracy’, imagining that decisions are taken that represent the views of the majority.
Time to regulate, quality control, tax and stop availability to minors.
Sincere condolences to all affected.
40 year old taking ecstasy?!! Something not right there
I know people in their 60s that do it. If you do your research, it is pretty safe in moderate doses. It is probably safer than alcohol.
Each to their own anyway. :)
But because there is no regulation, you don’t know what you’re getting and this can be lethal, with the MDMA substitutes they’re trying out all the time. You can be lucky for 10,20 years and then some dodgy pill kills you!
Changes in policy are needed. They should be trying to make drug use safer, rather than just enforcing the prohibition. That’s if they really had people’s interest at heart, when tackling this issue.
You can do reagent tests to determine the contents of the product you have. Testing kits are readily available online and are very useful, in my opinion. Using them, you will know what you’re ingesting :)
a closed mind, Jenny, never learned anything new….
A few years ago , scientists employed by the British government to study the dangers of illegal drugs and advise on government policy in relation to said drugs resigned … The reason being that government policy on the issue simply didn’t come close to their findings I.e mdma is less harmful than both alcohol and tobacco .. as is cannabis and a couple of others ! These scientists came up with a list of the 20 most common and dangerous drugs regularly being used : no. 1 being the most dangerous . Mdma came in at 17 !!
Thats Prof.David Nutt, check out his work! Its all common sense stuff! He ranks drugs on a scale of the harm they do to the user & also to society, guess what ranks number 1?
Well its NOT cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis etc…. But you’ll find a few thousand people in every city across the world every night on it.
That’s the man .. also a couple of those working with him . I’m terrible with names . As for no. 1 , well I reckon everyone can guess what that is , however , I still would rather that those who have gone down that road could get a pure product from a pharmacy for free ! The cost of supplying such a service would be a tiny fraction of what is spent on enforcement and the cost of the crime associated with the use of such a drug !
Watch you don’t fall off that high horse. It might hurt.
Play with fire…..
Get nice n warm..
Not really. The chances of dying from ecstasy is actually quite low.
See we don’t HAVE a ‘play with fire and get burned’ policy.
A play with fire and takes your own chances policy would be to decriminalize USE and let grown adults take their own calculated risks. Instead we have ministers who are regularly so drunk they slur their speeches in the Dail dictating laws telling the rest of us what we can and cannot put into our bodies, and they keep this stuff illegal resulting in the anything and everything being tossed into it during production.
I’d be all in favor of a ‘play your own risks and takes ur chances’ policy, but we don’t have that we have a hypocritical nanny state that says one substance is ok, but other, far less dangerous (in some cases) substances are not ok.
Alcohol abuse is the real killer in our society, without it lots of people wouldn’t even consider taking ecstasy in the first place. Ecstasy doesn’t present half the threat that alcohol does.
Prohibition kills and fuels the blackmarket.
If all drugs were regulated properly deaths would be minimal if not completely unheard of.
The real question is why give criminals such a profitable resource?
And why let them be responsible for the health of the people who decide to take these drugs.
@stephen duggan you and your views are the very reason why people are dying. This backward view of banning something that people will always be able to get past any prohibition measures is just crazy. And the education you speak of is scaremongering. And steers kids towards alcohol and tobacco which is worse in my experience.
Think about how much Garda funding goes into the “war on drugs”.
Then think about how much criminals are earning from drugs.
In the real world prohibition isn’t supportable and should be abolished.
The drugs education I received was complete nonsense.
Cannabis was as harmful as heroin, and smoking it meant that you *would* end up a junkie. Ecstasy caused untold amount of deaths and if you took LSD or mushrooms your mind would snap and you would never come back from your trip.
Imagine my surprise when I tried cannabis for the first time, I had no desire to try heroin, but I did have an all consuming desire for chocolate..
As it turns out, ecstasy is quite harmless, you always come back from a trip – no matter how long it may feel like, and I still have no desire to try heroin.
Indeed, magic mushrooms and other psychedelics are showing promising results in the field of treating depression and other issues including addiction.
I was lied to. That’s not education, that’s propaganda.
I will not give an opinion coz of all the critics lol
What kind of idiot in his 40s takes e ? You expect a little cop on at that stage.
you mean everyone should be like you Diarmuid… how boring and predictable your sheltered little world must be….it’s none of your business who chooses to do what…and there are leading edge psychiatrists who use ecstasy in their treatment for PTSD by the way. Imagine that , shock , horror
What is it that makes someone in their forties an idiot if they take mdma ? I don’t understand what you mean . That same forty year old could well be able to run a marathon , live a very healthy and happy life and now and then take a chemical he/she is fond of .. but that would make them an idiot ?!?
What makes someone in their forties an idiot simply because they take mdma ? That same fortysomething year old may well be able to run a marathon . He/she may well live a very happy and fulfilling life but just because this person takes a chemical they happen to be fond of they are an idiot in your eyes !?! Wow .. I wish I had it all figured out the way you seem to .
Drug taking makes me so angry!
I wonder how m
I wasn’t in yesterday sir….
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