Ecstasy

BRIAN Johnson was operations manager for customs that day. "We pursue what we see as the risk areas," he said. "We have to be selective stopping people. If we get it wrong we apologise and thank people for their help." But does he ever feel that they're fighting a losing battle, with more and more drugs being imported each year?

"We're only one part of the operation to combat the drugs problem. Society as a whole needs to reject it. But I do hope my officers were polite, helpful and thorough." Thorough? They were certainly thorough. Anyone who smuggles drugs for a living either must have a screw loose, have the emotions of a robot, or be extremely lucky. More likely, all three at the same time.
I, for one, won't be giving up the day job.

Guerilla Testing

"IF the Government says ecstasy is so dangerous then they must allow and support ecstasy testing." So says Shane Collins from the Green Party Drugs Group, the main activists behind 'guerilla' ecstasy testing. As legal clubs prove reluctant to allow ecstasy testing on the premises ­ that's because nobody's doing it in here, right? ­ they test people's pills in underground trance clubs around London. For £15 they'll sell you your own basic ecstasy testing kit, and for £34 you can get the advanced kit which will tell you the exact size, so you can cross-reference the pill you're holding with pills already tested. They have close links to the late Nicholas Saunders' ecstasy.org website and know that once a high-quality pill goes online, it will be rapidly duplicated.

Ecstasy Exact size is difficult to repeat, though, which is why it's so crucial.
Joseph Deckard (name changed) is a 44- year-old drugs law campaigner from Norwich, who conducts his own street-level testing. He'll approach you in the club and will invite you into the gents to test your pill for you on the spot. The response, he says, is generally positive: last week he approached four potential pill-heads, three said yes to a quick test, one said no.

"It's putting the whole thing on the table ­ here it is, let's talk about it," says Deckard, previously active in the Legalise Cannabis Campaign. "It's supposed to be zero tolerance, it's supposed to be no drugs in the club. It's not. It's hypocrisy." Tony Puglia runs E-Z Test, a company selling their own basic testing kit for £9.95 through mail order, hippie shops and record stores.

Ecstasy continue