A blue square pressed pill printed with ‘SP’ notation expected to contain MDMA (ecstasy), was found to contain 168mg of MDMA free base, or 200mg of MDMA HCl.

What does this mean? This amount of MDMA is significantly higher than the amount that someone may usually expect to take. A service user who consumed a whole pill with the same appearance reported negative effects. This pill’s high dose contents align with recent findings in NSW and Victoria for other high dose pills of varying appearance, which have caused overdose.

Effects and signs of overdose can include signs of serotonin toxicity, including confusion, severe agitation and overheating. Seizures or fits and irregular heart rhythm can also be signs of overdose, as well as cardiac episodes including heart attack/ chest pain. The amount of MDMA in every tablet or capsule may vary, and the health risks can be greatly increased if high amounts (including multiple doses) are consumed over a short period of time.

Reducing the harm

Test your stuff! We’re issuing this community notice because while the expected drug and the actual drug found were the same, the amount found in a single pill was more than double the dose that someone may normally take. Come and see us at CanTEST for testing in Canberra.

Start low, go slow. Take half or less, wait at least two hours before redosing & ask a trusted person to check on you and never use alone.

There have been several other batches of high dose MDMA pills detected in NSW at the time of this Community Notice release – exercise caution even if your pill/s don’t look the same as the pill featured in this notice.

Carry naloxone (you can get some for free from CanTEST), never use alone and ask a trusted person to check on you.

Be alert for signs of an overdose. Think someone has overdosed? In an emergency, timing is crucial. Call 000 for an ambulance immediately.