A warning has been released by Canterbury DHB after 9 people presented at Christchurch hospital Saturday night.
Unfortunately it appears that the DHB is speculating about what the people had taken in the absence of knowing for certain, and have released a vague warning about a ‘faulty batch’. There is no such thing as a faulty batch.
KnowYourStuffNZ in its testing of ‘MDMA’ this year has found:
- samples with very high MDMA content – 2-3 doses or more in one pill
- adulterated samples – MDMA + something else (often a cathinone “bath salts”).
- samples that are something completely different – for example this summer’s crap drug n-ethylpentylone
Any of these would have associated potential dangers, but none of them are a ‘faulty batch of MDMA’.
The information in the alert is of almost no use to users. The warning contains no mention that the substance could be something completely different, no description of the substance, and no information about what sort of symptoms a user may experience that would signify danger. This warning might as well say “Don’t take MDMA.” Such an approach has been entirely ineffective at stopping people taking MDMA to date.
This is why New Zealand needs a properly-functioning Early Warning System, with protocols for what an effective, harm-reduction-focused warning looks like. At the very least, a warning should contain:
- a description of the substance so users know what to avoid
- information about the content of the substance – if this is not known, that should be made clear and warnings should refrain from speculation
- information about symptoms that signal danger.
We have released four alerts about substances of concern since the beginning of 2018. Right now, we are NZ’s Early Warning System. This is not good enough. The NZ government has been talking for years about implementing one, but the talk has not resulted in action. Warnings are left to DHBs with limited knowledge of illicit drugs and harm reduction, and community groups such as ourselves.
The government needs to step up and progress the national Early Warning System immediately. Meanwhile, we will continue to release information about substances of concern as they arise.
On the topic of the Christchurch mystery drug, our advice is:
- Approach all unknown substances with extreme caution.
- Unless they have been tested and confirmed to contain the desired substance and only the desired substance, they are *all* unknown.
- Substitution, adulteration, and extremely high dose pills are all currently being found in the market.
- When using, it is much better to take a fraction of a dose and await developments (at least an hour) than to take the whole thing without knowing what it is and risk a trip to the hospital.
Be careful out there, folks.
[EDIT: Three weeks after thirteen people were hospitalised in Christchurch after ingesting this mystery substance, NZ Police confirmed that the substance was n-ethylpentylone. We published our warning about this substance two weeks before this event and five weeks before the Police. This shows that KnowYourStuffNZ is already acting as New Zealand’s drug early warning system. However, we are constrained by the legal grey area that we operate in. Clarifying the law and allowing us to operate openly will save lives.]