Police drug warning as teenager dies after taking ‘Purple Ninja Turtle’ ecstasy tablets

Police drug warning as teenager dies after taking ‘Purple Ninja Turtle’ ecstasy tablets

Police have issued a warning about a new type of ecstasy tablet known as ‘Purple Ninja Turtle’ after a teenager died during a house party.

The girl, aged 16, was taken ill at the party at a home in Newtongrange and was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Saturday.

Police have also raised concerns about a second strain of tablet know as Red Bugatti Veyron.

“Inquiries into the circumstances surrounding her death are at a very early stage, however one line of inquiry officers are following is that she may have had access to ecstasy type tablets,” Police Scotland said.

“Anyone who has taken these tablets is urged to seek immediate medical attention.

“Furthermore, anyone who has access to any of these tablets is strongly urged not to take them.

“Police Scotland’s message is clear. There is no safe illegal drug and no safe way to take illegal drugs.”

The incident in Scotland underlines a trend which has been causing increasing concern in the UK as the number of ecstasy linked deaths rises.

Last year the figure reached an all time high with experts believing this is because the pills’ strength is increasing.

The average strength of an ecstasy pill in 2009 was around 20-30mg, by 2014 this had risen to 100 mg.

• The use of ecstasy has spiked over the past two years, with survey results indicating the numbers taking the drugs in the past 12 months is up 84 per cent.
• An estimated 157,000 more people aged 16-24 took ecstasy over the past year compared with two years ago.
• The drug’s year-on-year increase in consumption by the young is about 40 per cent.
• One of the drugs most likely to be mixed with others was ecstasy, used by 57 per cent of those mixing drugs.
• In 2014 MDMA/ecstasy was the cause of 50 deaths, with 50 per cent reported as using other drugs alongside MDMA/ecstasy.
• There has been a 316.7 per cent increase in deaths due to MDMA/ecstasy since 1993, when 12 deaths were reported.
• The highest year of MDMA deaths was 2005, with 58 deaths reported.
• There were 3,346 drug-poisoning deaths registered in England and Wales in 2014, the highest since comparable records began in 1993; of these, 2,248 (or 67 per cent) involved illegal drugs; 50 of these deaths were due to ecstasy/MDMA.

Report Courtesy of the Telegraph

Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07581350321

Email ots@otsnews.co.uk

Facebook www.facebook.com/Otsnews-Southport-1575528676012039/

Twitter  www.twitter.com/onthespot_news

Breaking local news as it happens, searchable archives with photographs, the ability to instantly comment on news articles – there are so many advantages to OTS (Onthespot) News.

If you want your news read locally online then send it to ots@otsnews.co.uk – relying only on the newspaper is to restrict yourself to an ever reducing audience.