Right, but the Obama tablet probably isn't MDMA

Some random news report popping up in my Google Alert seemed kind of interesting, seeing as how it was referring to an “Obama pill” and Ecstasy and whatnot. There was also a reference to a DEA agent being interviewed.

the discovery of about 200 Ecstasy pills Monday during a traffic stop in Palmview is something of an anomaly, given how infrequently investigators in the region come across MDMA, as the drug is also known.
“We know that it is here, but it’s not here in large quantities in the way that it is in some other metro cities in the country,” said Special Agent Will Glaspy, who heads the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s McAllen office.

The DEA should know some stuff, right? They collate a great deal of drug seizure info, do they not?

The article continues on:

A DEA bulletin published in June states Ecstasy tablets shaped like Obama’s face, Snoopy, Bart Simpson and Homer Simpson have been found across the Southwest.

The are presumably talking about the Microgram bulletin, the June issue (pdf) does indeed report on the Obama and cartoon-shaped pills.

The laboratory is receiving Ecstasy mimic and Ecstasy exhibits with different designs, colors, and shapes than the more typical round tablets. The Ecstasy mimic designs include: Barack Obama, Homer and Bart Simpson, Snoopy, Ninja Turtles, and Transformer Decepticon and Autobot designs. The contents of the tablets vary, but generally include a mixture of BZP, TFMPP, and caffeine. Other components in some tablets are dextromethorphan, methamphetamine, and dimethylsulfone. Ecstasy designs include: a mushroom (resembling one from the Super Mario Brothers video game) and Garfield. The mushroom and Garfield Ecstasy tablets contain 3,4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), methamphetamine, and caffeine.

The ecstasydata.org site has incorporated DEA information from their publications now. This gives a handy review of what should be known by the field agents, one would think. Seems to be a pretty clear breakdown of shapes/designs that are of the BZP, TFMPP, caffeine variety and those that contain MDMA/Meth/caffeine. Sure there can always be new illicit product appearing but it seems as though the Palmview reporter was not being given the clearest available evidence. Or hadn’t actually bothered to read the report from the DEA that was cited in the article.
Or, perhaps the reporter should have referenced the August issue of Microgram.

Analysis of the tablets (total net mass 0.60 gram) by GC/MS, GC/FID and color test indicated N-benzylpiperazine (BZP), 1,3-trifloromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), procaine, and caffeine.

That’s better. But couldn’t the DEA guy say what color the Obama tablets were? Or does the journalist not give a flying fig what was actually in the stuff that was to be reported as “Ecstasy”? I mean, I could be all on my own out here actually caring I suppose…
Final thought…I can’t believe all the rightwing teevee talking heads haven’t made hay out of “Obama Ecstasy” yet. That story practically writes itself….