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Thirteen of those total deaths, which all occurred late last year and last month, have been linked to paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) a chemical turning up inside Canadian ecstasy — which was once the street name for MDMA, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine, but has come to mean any pill passing itself off as MDMA even if it’s been so adulterated as to hardly be like the original drug. PMMA, known on the street as “Doctor Death,” is considered five times more toxic than run-of-the-mill street ecstasy. It was in the pill that Mr. Timothy took.

As police try to trace the path of this especially lethal brand of ecstasy, they are once again spreading the message that law enforcement, schools and other government bodies have been spreading for decades: Don’t touch the stuff. Just say no.

At the same time, a growing chorus of harm reduction advocates say that message isn’t working. The use of illegal drugs has not declined in recent years and there is a slice of the population that is simply determined to engage in risky behaviour, like taking drugs. The way to prevent these deaths, these advocates say, may actually be to accept that people will still take ecstasy despite the warnings and give them a safer means of doing so. If we ignore users and hope they stop, they say, the deaths will continue.

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Since early January, B.C.’s medical officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, has woven advice to drug users into his public comments on the ecstasy-related deaths in his province. Users should just take one pill instead of several at a time (as some of the overdosers have done), they should keep hydrated and make sure there’s a sober person there to help if something goes wrong. They should also know their dealers so they have a better idea of where the drugs came from.