Drug for sale despite Health Canada warning
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | 4:55 PM ET
CBC News
A drug currently available in some Canadian stores — said to induce the same kind of "high" as the street drug ecstasy — may pose serious health risks, Health Canada says.
Nevertheless, the department says, it has seen a steady increase in shipments of the drugs to the country — which are manufactured in the United States by Stargate International and sold and distributed by Purepillz, a Canadian retailer.
Four products — Peaq, Freq, PureRush and PureSpun — are promoted on the Purepillz website as "social tonics," Health Canada said.
The pills, which contain some of the same amphetamines found in ecstasy, induce "kind of like a body high — nice and mellow," a Calgary user told CBC News. "Your sensation of touch is heightened. So, you know, it feels pretty good."
However, the pills can "lead to dehydration, increased blood pressure, possibly seizures," warned Dr. Wende Wood of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
In July, Health Canada issued this warning: "Health Canada advises Canadians not to purchase these products from the Internet or any other source" and "is taking enforcement action" to make sure the companies stop selling them.
In the last year, the drugs have been found at schools, workplaces, nightclubs and house parties, Toronto RCMP Sgt. Brent Hill said. Police in Toronto suspect the drug played a role in the death of a man, 55, with a heart condition. He died in the summer of 2008 after taking the pills at a nightclub.
Despite raiding several stores and trade shows, the department said, large quantities of the drugs are finding their way into Canada. The CBC had no difficulty finding Rush 2, Flow, Peaq and Freq pills for sale at one store.
Purepillz owner Adam Wookey refused to speak to CBC News on Monday. In November, he told Radio-Canada that banning the pills won't stop people from using them.
"Whether it's going to be by the black market or by a legitimate market is up to government and is up to people," Wookey said.
The pills are banned in the U.S. and several European countries. Health Canada is in the process of listing the drugs as a controlled substance to make both the possession and trafficking of the pills a crime.
