Feds hike danger rating on ecstasy while health officers urge drug policy reform

The proliferation of dirty street ecstasy and ecstasy overdoses are a direct consequence of criminalization and prohibition
The Canadian Press (Canada)
Sunday, June 24, 2012

Several top public health officials are proposing a rethinking of current illegal-drug policies they assert spurs on a global problem involving ecstasy, one that even the White House says is made in Canada, specifically B.C. But the suggestion for dialogue about a careful, science-based crafting of new health-oriented regulations comes at the same time the federal government has taken the polar opposite course with its omnibus crime bill. In mid-March, the class of drugs that includes the substance MDMA — considered the pure and original form of ecstasy — was bumped up to a Schedule I drug under Bill C-10, giving it heightened status alongside heroin and cocaine.