Record ecstasy bust puts 'massive dent' in market
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The drugs were found packed in more than 3,000 tomato tins in a shipping container. (Australian Customs)
The Australian National Council on Drugs says that the world's biggest ecstasy bust announced today will put a massive dent in the market.
Its director, Gino Vumbaca, says that means pills could be laced with more dangerous chemicals.
Customs officers this morning detailed how they seized the 4.4 tonnes and helped police bust open a major international drug smuggling syndicate.
Today 17 people were arrested across four states and the federal police say the raids will continue over the weekend, mainly in suburban Melbourne.
Mr Vumbaca says that internationally, it is a very significant seizure.
"Clearly I am just looking at some of the significant seizures last year and I think the biggest one was about 100 kilos or so of ecstasy, so you are talking [about] the biggest seizure last year," he said.
"Generally, the production of ecstasy is European-based. I note this one was intercepted en-route from Italy or another part of Europe. For instance, Holland has been traditionally an area of narcotic production, but we are also seeing production in our Asia Pacific region, particularly the Asian region increasing as well."
Police say they have seized 15 million ecstasy pills, but Mr Vumbaca says there are problems when measuring the impact of border detections and seizures.
"To actually understand how effective it is, you need to know what the total market size is and to understand how much then you are seizing, what percentage you are seizing," he said.
"Now what we don't know is if catching this much, what has got in around the other side or some other way. Demand and supply economics will dictate that when supply is restricted, the price will increase.
"It is hard to know what will happen. It never did hit the streets. We would estimate this would be a significant dent in the availability of ecstasy on the streets."
Mr Vumbaca says that when someone purchases ecstasy, it is not known for sure whether they have bought what they paid for.
"Often what we find is when you hear about overdoses and unfortunately some fatalities that occur, people think they are taking ecstasy or thought they were taking ecstasy a lot of time and they haven't," he said.
"They have been provided with another drug, even though they were told it was ecstasy."
Ecstasy popularity soars
Many people see ice as one of the most sought-after drugs in Australia, but Mr Vumbaca says that national household surveys show ecstasy use has been increasing over the past few years.
"It is still not as prevalent as cannabis or anything like that, which is the most widely used illicit drug, but its use has been increasing whilst cannabis and heroin and a range of other drugs has been decreasing," he said.
"We know that methamphetamines and ice, the use has stabilised but ecstasy still holds in the minds of lot of people, particularly young people, holds a position of it being a relatively safe drug or a safer drug to use.
"It is viewed positively and that increases people's desire or propensity to use that drug.
"I think that is why we have a bit of a battle on our hands with ecstasy, more so than we do with methamphetamines and ice, which I think people are recognising now as being quite problematic in terms of their health and psychological impact on people."
Mr Vumbaca says there also needs to be recognition of the criminal activity within the ecstasy industry.
"This is an area, an industry, that is worth billions and billions of dollars," he said.
"[It] attracts a lot of people into it with the lure of money and when you have that sort of money available, it is not something you are ever going to beat.
"What it means is that the battle will be ongoing and we need to not only look at restricting supply, but also looking at providing demand reduction and harm reduction services as well.
"It is not something that you just have a three-year plan for, a five-year plan for. It is something we are going to have to deal with over the very long term."
- Adapted from an interview first aired on The World Today, August 8.
