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Specialist teaches police how to spot 'weird drugs'
JODI POSPESCHIL MACOMB - A former Los Angeles police detective was in Macomb on Wednesday to train local police, court and health and human service workers on ways to spot the use of "weird drugs." Trinka Porrata held an all-day training session at Western Illinois University as part of Project X, a state initiative geared toward 18- to 25-year-olds that brings together law enforcement, colleges, universities and substance abuse treatment providers to fight the methamphetamine and ecstasy problem. Nine state grants were given out earlier this year, with Bridgeway being awarded the grant to run the program for McDonough, Knox, Fulton and Warren counties. The program is funded by money confiscated from drug dealers. Porrata spoke about current trends in drug use and the variety of club drugs, such as ecstasy. She also showed the more than 150 people in attendance the paraphernalia common to club drug usage, such as real and candy baby pacifiers. "It's not cute, and it's not innocent," she said. "Ecstasy causes you to grind your teeth and so anything (the user) can suck on helps reduce that." Candies, such as Pez, Tootsie Rolls or candy necklaces are common places for hiding the drugs. She said kids should be taught more about the dangers related to the candy so they know what to avoid. Porrata said police recently have seen a "huge wave of new abuses of old drugs." "The Internet is the key," she said. "Kids don't live in small towns anymore; they live in" the world of the World Wide Web. Much of the use of the club drug GHB started among bodybuilders, she said, and trying to quit the anti-depressant, anti-aging drug is difficult. "I can't think of a single GHB addict who was ever the same afterwards," she said. Porrata resigned in 1999 from the LAPD, where she worked as a detective, the last eight years in the narcotics division. She is considered a specialist on "weird drugs" and is teaching around the country about how to spot the use and abuse of lesser-known drugs. Porrata has also helped write drug-related legislation in California. After the all-day training session, Porrata held a two-hour community forum Wednesday night to answer questions and detail how to recognize drug usage. Similar trainings will be held today at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and on Tuesday at the University of Illinois-Springfield. |
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
