The stimulant drug 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) — popularly known as “Ecstasy” — is flooding the globe, finding favor among young abusers who crave its hallucinogenic effects. There is no accepted medical use for MDMA, but, according to a new study by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), “Israeli and Russian criminal groups now dominate MDMA smuggling to the United States.”
The report adds: “Israeli organized crime syndicates has gained a foothold in the United States. Moreover, these organizations have proven to be capable of producing and smuggling significant quantities of MDMA from source countries in Europe to the United States, expanding from coast to coast, enabling a relatively few organizations to dominate MDMA markets nationwide.”
MDMA was discovered in Germany in 1913 and patented by a pharmaceutical company in 1914. It was intended as a weight-loss drug, but because of its side-effects MDMA was never marketed.
MDMA is taken orally, usually in tablet or capsule form, and its effects last approximately four to six hours. Abusers of the drug report feeling a heightened sense of awareness as well as a feeling of increased empathy or emotional closeness to others. The production of MDMA in clandestine laboratories, its increasing abuse among young people and evidence of adverse health effects, including brain damage, led to the DEA’s emergency classification of MDMA as an illegal drug in 1985.
The DEA reports that Israeli organized crime syndicates — often working in partnership with Russian criminals — operate several clandestine MDMA laboratories operating throughout Western Europe, primarily the Netherlands and Belgium.
The drug is manufactured in tablet, capsule or powder form. Raw materials are obtained from chemical supply companies for a few cents a pound. A kilogram of Ecstasy powder will yield 3,000 tablets. Drug dealers in the United States can sell a single dose of the drug for $30.
The effects of long-term MDMA use are just beginning to undergo scientific analysis. In 1998, the National Institute of Mental Health conducted a study of a small group of habitual MDMA users who were abstaining from use. The study revealed that the abstinent users suffered damage to the neurons in the brain that transmit serotonin, an important biochemical involved in a variety of critical functions including learning, sleep and integration of emotion. The results of the study indicate that recreational MDMA users may be at risk of developing permanent brain damage that may manifest itself in depression, anxiety, memory loss, and other neuropsychotic disorders.
Although the vast majority of MDMA consumed domestically is produced in Europe, a limited number of MDMA labs operate in the United States. In addition, in recent years, Israeli organized crime syndicates, some composed of Russian émigrés associated with Russian organized crime syndicates, have forged relationships with Western European traffickers and gained control over a significant share of the European market. According to the DEA, Israeli syndicates are currently the primary source to US distribution groups.
Overseas MDMA trafficking organizations smuggle the drug in shipments of 10,000 or more tablets via express mail services, couriers aboard commercial airline flights, or, more recently, through air freight shipments from several major European cities to cities in the United States.
According to the DEA, Israeli and Russian drug cartels are closely associated and often cooperate with one another. “Many of the Russian traffickers immigrated to Israel both before and after the fall of the Soviet Union,” says the DEA report. “Now many of the Israeli-Russian traffickers have acquired US citizenship.”
The DEA says Israeli and Russian drug cartels use similar smuggling and concealment techniques, using couriers, express mail services, and sea containers. A review of DEA investigations dating back to 1997 shows that Israeli and Russian drug cartels have established MDMA importation hubs in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC According to the DEA, both the Israelis and Russians “have developed a working relationship in the smuggling of MDMA to the United States.”
Coming in Part Two: Training and recruitment of drug couriers. Send questions and comments to: [email protected].
