By: Nyima Sillah
Ecstacy accounts for the biggest proportion of illicit drugs intercepted at the Gambia’s Post Office this year.
This disclosure was made by the Spokesperson of the National Drugs Enforcement Agency (DLEAG), Ousman Saidybah, over the weekend.
Ecstacy, now referred to by its street names Gaw Gaw or Gina Bass, is increasingly gaining popularity among young Gambians despite its prohibitive cost.
A pill of the synthetic drug currently has a street value of D500.
About 11,000 pills of ecstasy have been confiscated at the Post Office in February of this year.
Mr. Saidybah pointed out that the drug is a relatively new entrant in the Gambia’s drugs market
“If you look at the trend, this drug was not available in the past because we had more Diazepam, Clonazepam and all those Pam families or Rose. Ecstasy is also a pill but different from those ones because it is more potent than those pills,” DLEAG spokesperson told The Voice.
According to Mr. Saidybah, records have shown that Germany and Holland are the sources of ecstasy consumed in The Gambia.
“In terms of the origin of this ecstasy from the seizure records, we can talk about Holland and Germany although we have also made seizures of Clonazepam and Diazepam, which are all pills that came in from Mali but the single biggest seizure of ecstasy so far recorded indicated that the pills originated from Holland,” he revealed.
When asked why ecstasy is referred to as Gaw-Gaw or Gina Bass, DLEAG spokesman explained: “In terms of effects, the names simplify it because they use the name Gina Bass or Gaw- Gaw because of the quick effect it can have on their minds. It replaced more of what we used to call the Rose, which is the Diazepam and the Clonazepam. They are all pills with a difference but this one is more potent. It has more potency and it can be highly addictive and can cause permanent confusion.”