A 24-year-old Abbotsford woman is battling for her life after ingesting ecstasy with three friends on New Year's Eve. Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said the woman, whose name has not been released, was at a home in the 33700 block of George Ferguson Way when she became unconscious and unresponsive.

She was treated on scene at about 6 a.m. on New Year's Day by BC Ambulance and Abbotsford Fire Rescue personnel before being transported to hospital. MacDonald said the women, ages 23 to 31, took "numerous" blue ecstasy pills throughout the evening, starting at the residence. They then went out for the night and returned to the home, ingesting the last pills at about 4 a.m. The friends indicated that the victim consumed more pills than they did, MacDonald said.

The United Nations' World Drug Report for 2011 was released Thursday, and Canada does not come off well - which is no surprise to those working in drug enforcement.

"If you look at the size and magnitude of these illicit drug labs, we just don't have the population and consumer base for this," said Sergeant Brent Hill, commander of the RCMP's chemical diversion unit in Milton, Ont. "This is for export and we know this. Do you really want to be a leading source country of illegal drugs?"

The annual UN drug report singles out Canada as a leading exporter of meth to the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico and Jamaica.

In addition, "the resurgence" of ecstasy use south of the border "was fuelled by the manufacture [of ecstasy] in Canada and subsequent smuggling," according to the report which is based on global police, government and health records.

"For years we have pointed the finger at Colombia and Afghanistan," said Thomas Pietschmann, of the threat analysis section of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime. "But the same kind of standard should apply to Western countries like Canada."

The UN report says Canadian authorities busted a dozen ecstasy labs and 23 meth labs in 2009 - the latest year for which statistics are available - and seized close to half a metric ton of ecstasy.

The Gander RCMP drug section arrested a 26 year-old man and 22 year-old woman from St. John's Sunday for possession of a controlled substance for the purposes of trafficking.

Police say the pair had a half-pound of cocaine and a quantity of ecstasy. The drugs were seized by the RCMP as well as a significant amount of cash.

The ecstasy was in the form of a popular kids’ candy, which police say tricks those who take it into thinking it’s harmless.

A prohibited weapon was also found during the search.

The two will appear in Gander provincial court today.

The Community Prevention Education Continuum (CPEC) program is using the DARE program for Grade 5 students as its platform to launch this comprehensive strategy from, according to Sgt. Jeff Swann.

The World Drug Report 2010, launched today by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says that the number of users of synthetic drugs – estimated at around 30 to 40 million people worldwide – will soon exceed the number of users of opiates and cocaine combined.

“We will not solve the world drugs problem if we simply push addiction from cocaine and heroin to other addictive substances – and there are unlimited amounts of them, produced in mafia labs at trivial costs,” warned UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.

The agency noted in a news release that the market for amphetamine-type stimulants is harder to track because of short trafficking routes, and the fact that many of the raw materials are both legal and readily available. Manufacturers are quick to market new products, such as ketamine and mephedrone, and exploit new markets.

The abused drugs include pain pills and attention deficit drugs used as study aids.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that the drug use was most common among 12th graders. White students took the drugs more than blacks or Hispanics.

The CDC did not have information on which drugs were abused the most.

Ecstasy (mdma) is a stimulant drug widely used recreationally that is also being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Led by Dr. Stephen Kish at CAMH, this study provides confirmation of a previous finding from Johns Hopkins University that levels of the serotonin transporter (SERT) are low in cerebral cortex of chronic ecstasy users. The subjects were "typical" ecstasy users who used about two tablets of the drug twice a month.

SERT is a protein responsible for regulating levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter important for mood and impulse control. Ecstasy interacts with SERT to cause the release of serotonin, an action that probably explains some of the behavioral effects of the drug such as increased sociability.

"Canada has emerged an important hub for ecstasy and amphetamines," Antonio Maria Costa told a news conference Wednesday in the U.S. capital as he released the agency's 2009 World Drug Report.

Costa said the lucrative underground industry of manufacturing amphetamines has migrated north to Canada since both the U.S. and Mexico banned the chemical precursors used to make the drugs.

"These important measures taken by countries inevitably tend to create a problem somewhere else unless similar measures are undertaken," he said.

Methamphetamines have yet to make a strong presence in the region, but law enforcement officials are keeping a sharp lookout for the highly addictive drug.

The RCMP issued a press release on May 7, warning high school and university students in the Fredericton area to be aware of drug dealers selling meth as other drugs, particularly ecstasy.