<http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18616278-421,00.html>
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1601380.htm>

Australia is ecstasy capital
From:  By Simon Kearney
March 27, 2006

AUSTRALIANS are the biggest users of ecstasy in the world by a
wide margin and the drug is becoming more popular by the day,
prompting European syndicates to plan larger smuggling
operations.

A series of police intelligence reports obtained by The
Australian cite intelligence and UN figures on drug use, showing
that ecstasy is becoming mainstream and that supplies of the
drug are not being hindered by action to crack down on
syndicates importing and manufacturing the dangerous party drug.

The reports indicate the market for the drug is highly lucrative
for organised crime with Australians paying more for ecstasy
than in traditional markets such as Europe. 

They all point to the UN World Drug Report that has named
Australians as first in the world for ecstasy use and second for
amphetamine use. 

Almost twice as many Australians use ecstasy (3.4 per cent) as
the next-highest nationality, the British (2.0 per cent). 

In an underlined section in a report on synthetic drugs, NSW
police admit that the combined efforts of Australian law
enforcement agencies have been unable to put a dent in the
availability of ecstasy. 

"Australia and Oceania may not yet have seen the peak in MDMA
(ecstasy) consumption and with the growing supply from the Asian
region there appears no problem with availability," the report
says. 

The NSW Crime Commission says there seem to be no barriers to
getting ecstasy in Australia: "European organised crime groups
(particularly from Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium and Israel)
are targeting Australia for large-scale importations of ecstasy
tablets, millions of pills at a time, due to the high
profitability of the Australian market." 

An AFP report on the syndicates describes them as operating "in
a manner similar to that employed by multinational companies".
One syndicate did cost-benefit analyses on ecstasy that took
into account how foreign exchange rates would affect the
smuggling operation. 

The NSW Crime Commission and the AFP say the syndicates are
increasingly competitive with low-quality locally operations
stealing their market share. The reports say they are investing
in expensive pill presses so their products cannot be forged,
and sending professional chemists to supervise production
outposts. 

The reports were tabled in federal parliament earlier this month
with the committee that oversees the Australian Crime
Commission. The committee is examining whether Australia is
doing enough to combat the scourge of synthetic illicit drugs. 

A report by the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and
Education Centre criticises police forces for inadequate
information sharing, data collection and record keeping. 

There have been large seizures of amphetamines and ecstasy in
the past year, but the ACC reports that Australia is facing
increasing threats from both transnational criminal groups and
local manufacturers, which they admit may be producing more
ecstasy than police realised. 

The ACC has an entire section working on curbing the supply of
synthetic illicit drugs, but has found that a third of its other
investigations also involve some element of synthetic drug
manufacturing or importing. 

"Information obtained by the ACC indicates that organised crime
elements are involved in ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants)
production in NSW and Victoria, while Queensland attracts
involvement from smaller and highly diverse criminal groups with
serious and organised crime group connections," their report
says. 

The ACC said local manufacture was relatively easy with many
devices needed to produce speed available for purchase on online
auction sites. 

Police services say that the use of "ice", a stronger and purer
amphetamine, is also attracting Asian criminal syndicates, who
now prefer the drug to heroin because of its profitability. 

NSW police say their intelligence has found most ice enters
Australia through New Zealand after being produced in
"superlabs" in China, The Philippines, Malaysia and Fiji. 

"Some Southeast Asian crime groups, having transferred their
interests from heroin to ice, appear to be utilising the routes
previously established for heroin supply and funds transfer,"
the report said. 

"They recruit middle-aged couriers to each carry approximately
350 grams of ice, paying them $20,000 to $30,000."