Police discover Trump-shaped ecstasy pill while on overdose call
Tablets emblazoned with phrase ‘great again’ could contain three times average adult dose if part of similarly branded batch circulating in UK last year
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump’s face has inspired editorial cartoons, Halloween costumes and actor Alec Baldwin’s impersonation of him for Saturday Night Live.
Now, people can apparently purchase MDMA, known as ecstasy, in the shape of Mr Trump’s face. It even sports his trademark coiffure.
The Clearwater, Florida, Police Department responded to an overdose call on Friday.
Brendan Dolan-King, 23, who police say lives in the home where the overdose took place, was arrested last Friday for hiding five orange pills labelled “Trump NL” in an air vent, according to the report.
He also had fentanyl in the apartment, according to authorities – a dangerously potent opioid that killed musician Prince in an overdose.
According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, adults 18 to 25 years old reported the highest percentage of MDMA use in their lifetime.
The institute also reports synthetic opioids, which mainly included illegal fentanyl, surpassed prescription opioids in 2016 as the most common drugs contributing to overdose deaths in the United States.
A spokesperson from the Clearwater Police Department told ABC News that officers have seen ecstasy pills in the shape of Batman and Superman logo, but never Mr Trump.
That’s not to say they don’t exist.
Earlier in the summer, Indiana State Police found Trump-shaped MDMA in a large drug bust during targeted traffic stops. Those pills had the words “great again” stamped on the back in capital letters.
In August 2018, Trump-faced ecstasy pills with similar branding (”Trump NL”) were circulating at a UK music festival. Drug safety non-profit the Loop tested the drugs and tweeted that they had three times the average adult dose of MDMA.
It’s unclear whether the pills were manufactured in the same place or whether the dosage in the Florida and Indiana pills was as high as those confiscated in Britain.
According to last week’s police report, authorities also responded to the same address in June for an overdose.
Police made contact with Mr Dolan-King and received written consent to search the apartment. That’s when police found the drugs and collected them as evidence.
The narcotics were then sent to the Pinellas County Forensic Laboratory for testing last month, where the drugs were confirmed to be MDMA and fentanyl, according to the report.
His bail was set at $2,000 (£1,648).
Washington Post
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