Gardaí believe highly-dangerous hallucinogenic "super ecstasy" may be in more widespread use here than previously thought, following the seizure of almost 82,000 tablets of the drug.
Ecstasy DOB was the subject of an unprecedented Department of Health warning after a teenager in Co Wicklow tried to gouge his own eyes out, believing he had rats in his head after taking it.
The drug mixes agents found in LSD with the chemicals found in ecstasy. Users have reported "trips" much more intense than from either ecstasy or LSD.
Users often panic and become dissociated from reality, believing they have been under the influence of the drug forever. This has resulted in very violent episodes of self harm.
When the Department of Health issued its warning on the drug last year ecstasy DOB was new to Ireland. However, the latest figures for drug seizures in 2003, which have just been published in the annual report for An Garda Síochána, reveal 81,353 tablets were seized last year.
The Department warned the drug can cause leg spasms so acute that a tourniquet effect has been induced in some cases, resulting in limbs losing blood supply for long periods, causing tissue death. This has caused gangrene resulting in amputations in other parts of the world.
Ecstasy DOB has no recognised medical use. It differs in appearance from traditional ecstasy tablets in that there is generally no logo, or pattern, printed on each tablet. The edges of the tablets are also more curved than traditional ecstasy, resulting in its "Snowball" street name.