The 18-year-old high school student died on Mother's Day. Her mother spent
night before helplessly watching. Her daughter's body temperature reached 108 degrees. Her blood cells boiled. She bled from her mouth. Was it a rare tropical fever that had caused such a horrible death? No. It was a little tan tablet called PMA.Overview
PMA is an illegal hallucinogen with effects similar to Ecstasy. PMA is made in clandestine laboratories and has become popular with teenagers. The drug is usually sold in a tablet form with Mitsubishi diamond emblem stamped into it. Most PMA tablets are tan, and are a little bigger than an aspirin.
Hidden Danger
Every year more high school students go to rave clubs. Once inside, drugs such as Ecstasy are easily purchased. Stricter control of chemicals used to make Ecstasy have made it expensive and difficult to buy. Illicit drug chemists sought alternatives. PMA was answer.
Most dance drugs raise body temperature, but PMA can send it soaring to 108 degrees. Chemicals to make PMA are easy to find. It's cheaper to make. PMA is sold as Ecstasy for a healthy profit.
Drug dealers don't care if they hurt or kill, as long as they are making money. By time a teenager realizes he or she has made a serious mistake, it is too late. Depending on purity and dosage, teenager could spend rest of his or her life boiling to death internally on a rave club floor.
PMA causes users to feel euphoric and energized. Users hug and kiss each other. This often leads to sexual activity -sometimes right on dance floor. People who use PMA say that their sense of touch, smell, and sight are more acute. Others report mild hallucinations.
Purity and dosage varies from tablet to tablet. Even tablets from same batch of PMA vary. One tablet provides a user with expected experience, while next one out of bag kills unlucky teenager who chooses it.
