Supplied
MDMA tablets containing methamphetamine have been found in New Zealand for the first time.
Methamphetamine has been discovered in MDMA tablets for the first time in New Zealand and the drugs are circulating in Wellington and Auckland.
The tablets are being sold in colours ranging from red, pink, and orange with a ‘Mitsubishi’ logo stamped on them, and were discovered to contain methamphetamine after an Auckland resident reported experiencing unusual symptoms.
The woman was in a distressed state on Karangahape Rd, and alerted a member of the public that she felt like she had been drugged. Police responded and took possession of the pills for testing.
National Drug Intelligence Bureau Detective Inspector Blair Macdonald said it was likely the drugs were imported from overseas.
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“Methamphetamine is much more expensive than MDMA, so to have methamphetamine being sold as MDMA is highly unusual and on that basis, we don’t believe these tablets are being manufactured here in New Zealand,” he said.
“We believe it’s likely these tablets have been brought in by people genuinely thinking they are MDMA, but it turned out to have some methamphetamine in them as well.”
It’s not yet known what percentage of methamphetamine the tablets contain and authorities don’t yet know how big the supply is.
ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Wendy Allison, Managing Director of KnowYourStuffNZ, and Samuel Andrews, Harm Reduction Project Advisor for the NZ Drug Foundation, talk through their drug testing (Video first published August 2019).
Scanning of social media by police staff found the drugs were being sold in Auckland and Wellington, mainly in the colour pink. The drugs seized by police were dark red in colour.
Users could experience increased levels of anxiety and paranoia, insomnia, changes in mood, confusion or disorientation, and stimulant-like effects.
It comes as authorities issued another warning about a new drug, which is being rapidly seized at the border and likely being sold as MDMA.
Customs/Supplied
An example of a package of dimethylpentylone seized at the border by Customs.
Dimethylpentylone, also known as dipentylone or sold online under alternative names such as ‘BU crystal’ would likely become the most prevalent synthetic substance of its type in New Zealand, a recent report found.
Police predict the drug, a synthetic cathinone, will completely overtake the consumption of eutylone, a drug which caused extensive harm throughout the country in late 2020 and early 2021, after it was mis-sold as MDMA (ecstasy), causing dozens of hospitalisations.
