Six dangerous types of ecstasy pills were discovered by a drug lab at the Belgian electronic dance music (EDM) festival Extrema Outdoor which took place this weekend near Hasselt close to the Dutch border.
The 11th edition of the three-day festival, which has grown rapidly in popularity since it was first launched, attracted a record number of 70,000 fans of electronic dance music. Unlike last year, when festival-goers were drenched by heavy rainfall, attendants this year soaked up the sun.
Yet as seen last year, dangerous ecstasy pills were which are mostly made on a large scale by amateurs, and not by "professional lab technicians."
Dangerous dosage
A large security village with a test lab for confiscated drugs was set up on the festival grounds. It found six dangerous types of ecstasy pills. According to the Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC), these could be life-threatening. The pills carried unusual names, such as Satan Killer, Moncler, Astronaut and "Tikkie Prikkie."
"The danger lies in the dose of MDMA per tablet," Nele Samyn, head of the Scientific Drugs and Toxicology Department at the NICC, told Radio 1. As the pills are not made by professionals, the dosage is not always right, meaning when they are combined with other drugs, they can be dangerous to health.
The festival organiser issued a number of warnings of dangerous drugs on its social media channels throughout the weekend after the drugs were seized, warning people not to take the pills as they contained very high doses of MDMA, which can be addictive and cause cognitive problems, while an overdose can cause health issues and even result in death.
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The NICC was present at the festival following a successful pilot project with an ordinary mobile test lab during last year's festival, where a pink pill in the form of 'Super Mario' containing no less than 300 milligrams of MDMA was discovered. This is four times higher than a normal ecstasy pill.
