Drug Analysis Report on Designer Drugs Seized in Quebec - October 2002 to April 2004

2004
ISBN: 0-662-68262-9
Cat. No.: H21-233/2004

Introduction

Since the end of the 1990s, designer drugs have increasingly gained in popularity. This interest was at first primarily related to the "Rave" phenomenon, and ecstasy was the substance most often consumed. In order to meet the training needs of the various front-line workers involved in these events (police officers, fire fighters, ambulance attendants, and social workers), a national committee was formed to study the situation and set up a training program for them. In keeping with these developments, the National Integrated Training Committee on Chemical Drugs and All-Night Dance Parties for first responders held training workshops in the cities of Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto in 2002 and 2003. It quickly became apparent that the consumption of ecstasy and its derivatives had by then spread to a far broader clientele than "ravers" only. This means that these substances are now just as often found in after-hour bars, at private parties, at high schools, colleges, and universities. This new reality is corroborated not only by the increasing number of seizures but above all by the testimonies of various drug addiction workers involved with young people in the high schools as well as by street workers. They report that ecstasy and its derivatives are now being more or less regularly consumed by these same youths. The need for data and information specific to the province of Quebec has quickly become apparent.

Consequently, Health Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police agreed on the relevance of initiating a specific project to analyze designer drugs. To do so, and in working with first responders during raves, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police could already count on a partnership with the police forces of Montreal (SPVM) and Québec City (SPVQ). The fact of working together in the field during these raves greatly facilitates the task in terms of collecting drug samples during the major events held in both cities. The substances selected for the purposes of the project were ecstasy and its derivatives (amphetamine-type stimulants), as well as GHB and ketamine, often described as "emerging drugs". In total, 357 samples were collected (seized) while covering seven (7) major rave events in Montreal and Québec City, during various police searches in five (5) cities in Quebec, and including more than a dozen seizures of imports at the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport in Dorval. It should be mentioned that all of the rave events were large (several thousand participants), and were selected based on the police resources already deployed in order to facilitate seizing the drugs. With regard to the seizures at the Dorval airport and in the five Quebec cities, we simply took samples of those substances identified in our research project seized between October 2002 and April 2004. We nevertheless limited the number of samples due to human resource limitations and for reasons related to the monitoring of the incriminating objects required for legal proceedings. The variety of the samples should enable us to identify the trends in Quebec and the reality in Quebec in terms of consumption, and the production versus import of these various substances. Special effort was expended with regard to the dosage of GHB and ketamine given that, until the project was developed, we had no information either on a national or a provincial level regarding the dosage of these substances.

The purpose of this analytical project is therefore to provide recent provincial data on these substances as well as on several other unique points. The various trends observed are therefore described and analyzed in this report, but to better serve the various stakeholders in the fields of education, health, and those involved in the application of legislation, and including other actors who work for the good of our young and older people, we photographed the substances seized and organized them in two laminated tables. The first one is entitled Designer Drugs Seized in Quebec and the second, Emerging Drugs Seized in Quebec. Under each substance photographed you will find the list of the main active ingre dients analyzed as well as the month, year, and the city where the substance was seized.

We are confident that, with these tables and detailed results of the analysis project, the various stakeholders who work in prevention will develop a better understanding of the situation, an understanding that will have a significant impact on their various areas of activity.We firmly believe that by knowing more we reduce our risks.

Jean Lemieux,
Coordinator, East District Drug Awareness Service,
Royal Canadian Mounted Police of Canada

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Drug Analysis
  • Source of Samples
  • Drugs and their effects
  • Drug dosages: Methamphetamine, MDMA, MDA, PCP, Ketamine, GHB
  • Substance combinations found in samples
  • Analysis of polydrugs in tablets and capsules
• Chapter 2: Clandestine laboratories
• Chapter 3: Comparison of drug analysis results obtained in Quebec and British Columbia
• Conclusion
• References
  
  
• Appendix I : Substances found in samples from raves and other seizures
• Appendix II : Substances found in samples from the Border Services Agency (Customs)
• Appendix III : Substances found in clandestine laboratory samples from 2 different laboratories during the 2002-2004 study period
• Appendix IV : Sample composition and content by form
• Appendix V : Dosage results for MDMA, MDA, and methamphetamine
• AppendixVI : Dosage results for GHB
• Appendix VII : Dosage results for ketamine
• Appendix VIII : Dosage results for PCP
• Appendix IX : Summary table of substance combinations found in tablets and capsules (contd.)
• Appendix X : Abbreviations and names of substances
  
  
• List of Tables:
  • Table 1: Source of samples
  • Table 2: Substances found in all Rave Project samples
  • Table 3: Tabular description of main drugs and their effects
  • Table 4: Poly-drug groups contained in all samples (all forms combined)
  • Table 5: Poly-drug groups contained in tablet/capsule samples
  • Table 6: Poly-drug groups contained in liquid/powder samples
  • Table 7: Frequency of amphetamine-type stimulants and their main combinations in tablets and capsules seized at raves
  • Table 8: Drugs synthesized in clandestine laboratories in Quebec, dismantled by the Drug Analysis Service of Health Canada (DAS) between 2002 and 2004
  • Table 9: Substances found in clandestine laboratory samples from 2 different laboratories during the 2002-2004 study period
  • Table 10: Percentage of time various ingredients were present in tablets, capsules, and powder seized at raves in Quebec between 2002 and 2004
  • Table 11: Percentage of time various ingredients were present in tablets, capsules, and powder seized at raves in British Columbia
  • Table 12: Percentage of drugs seized from the three different sources
  
  
• List of Diagrams:
  • Diagram 1: Source of samples
  • Diagram 2: Substances found in all rave Project samples
  • Diagram 3: Substances found in samples from raves and other seizures
  • Diagram 4: Substances found in samples from the Border Services Agency (Customs)
  • Diagram 5: Substances found in clandestine laboratory samples from 2 different laboratories during the 2002-2004 study period
  • Diagram 6: Dosage results for MDMA,MDA, and methamphetamine
  • Diagram 7: Dosage results for PCP
  • Diagram 8: Dosage results for ketamine
  • Diagram 9: Dosage results for GHB