Drug dealers are deliberately making ‘child-friendly’ ecstasy pills shaped like teddy bears or Disney characters to attract younger users, a government adviser has warned.
The warning comes as three 12-year-old girls were hospitalised last weekend after taking ‘teddy tablets’ in Greater Manchester.
Fiona Measham, who is a member of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and founded a charity which tests drugs found at festivals, said that half of pills she has tested this month have borne logos or designs which are ‘child-friendly’.
She told The Guardian: “I tested 30 different types of pills at Parklife and in terms of the design they fell into broadly two categories. One, what I’d call ‘luxury goods’.
"The others had children and youth-oriented designs: we saw pills with Darth Vader on them, R2D2, Mickey Mouse, as well as these teddy pills, in both pink and blue, which are actually shaped like teddy bears.”
She added that this may not be with the intention of deliberating attracting child users but in a bid to target young adult women.
Police have warned against the dangers of ‘teddy tablets’ after they were called to assist the three girls in Greater Manchester after they fell ill at a shopping centre.
It is believed the girls may have dissolved the tablets in a fizzy drink and passed it around between them to sip. All three are now in a stable condition.
