Government warns that fake ecstasy pills are killing users

The government’s chief medical officer has issued a public warning regarding the growing problem of fake ecstasy pills laced with deadly PMA. This growing problem was covered in a recent File On 4 programme on BBC Radio 4.

File On 4 reported a single event at a Manchester nightclub in September 2013, when 15 people ended up in A&E. One of the party-goers, Nick Bonnie, died after taking a designer drug that contained PMA.

PMA is para-methoxyamphetamine, a Class A drug that is similar to MDMA (ecstasy). It has a slower effect than ecstasy, which can prompt users to increase their dosage. The effect of overdosing is that body temperature, blood pressure and heart beat all increase rapidly, leading to dehydration, seizure and possible death. PMA can also kill at lower doses than MDMA.

People are buying drugs but have no idea what they are actually made from, and the consequences are sometimes fatal. Chief Superintendent Mark Roberts of Greater Manchester Police has spoken of his frustration. He wants to learn which drugs are causing the biggest problems and who is taking them; however, hospitals are not divulging this information, as it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act.

NHS England told File on 4: “The Data Protection Act exists to protect patient confidentiality, human rights and civil liberties. The police have no automatic right of access to confidential health records … In disclosing confidential information, there must be explicit patient consent or a robust public interest justification.”

One possible change in the future is that hospitals may start to report on incidence of overdoses so that the police and policymakers can determine which drugs are causing the biggest problems. At the moment it still takes a death to highlight when and where drugs are being heavily abused.