A U.S. government drug agency has issued a warning about meth-laced ecstasy entering the country from Canada.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, is warning U.S. health and safety organizations that the drug is making its way into the illegal drug markets of the northern states and is then being distributed throughout the country.

Police seizures of ecstasy pills in the states along the Canadian border have skyrocketed since 2003, a U.S. anti-drug agency says.
(CBC News)

The ecstasy-meth combo is highly toxic, the agency says, and can lead to dangerous spikes in body temperature, as well as kidney, liver and cardiovascular problems. If mixed with alcohol, the drug can lead to a fatal overdose. It is often taken at all-night parties and raves to induce a high and sustain energy levels.

According to the ONDCP, 568,220 dosage units of ecstasy were seized by federal officials in 2003 in the 10 mainland states that share a land border with Canada; in 2006, that number jumped to 5,485,619 dosage units. The agency also said that over 55 per cent of the samples seized south of the border in 2007 contained methamphetamine.

Ecstasy use is on the rise, according to the ONDCP's release: 860,000 Americans tried ecstasy for the first time in 2006, up 40 per cent from 2005. One-third of these new users in 2006 were under 18 when they first tried the drug.

The ONDCP also said there have been shifts in teens' views of the drug. It cited the latest data from the national Monitoring the Future Study, which tracks U.S. teenagers' drug-taking behaviour and perceptions. The study found that students in Grade 8 and Grade 10 are now less likely to associate deadly outcomes with occasional use of ecstasy.

"We cannot allow our young people to once again be victimized by the 'rave' culture, 'designer' drugs, or the myth that drug use is safe," ONDCP director John Walters said in the release. "We cannot afford to be complacent with the progress made against ecstasy since 2001."