Three Maine men were arrested Saturday night in Brockton. Two were charged with felony drug charges and one had outstanding felony warrants issued from the state of Maine. State troopers arrested the trio after one admitted to possession of heroin, marijuana, and “molly,” or MDMA — the active ingredient in ecstasy.

The arrests of Patrick Lee, 32, of Bangor, Maine; Brandon Kerr, 23, of Bangor, Maine; and Mark White, 25, of Argyle, Maine, came following a surveillance operations by state and local police on a vehicle located on Custer Street.

After the three men gave conflicting reports when police detained them shortly after 9 p.m., “Further investigation and a resultant search of the vehicle uncovered a cylinder containing approximately 12 grams of a tan chunky substance, believed to be heroin and approximately 16 grams of molly, a so-called designer drug,” said state police spokesman David Procopio.

The September 1 arrests in Brockton occurred the same night as a Sound Tribe Sector 9 concert was taking place at the Bank of America Pavilion on Boston’s waterfront, where, according to authorities, three men in their 20’s appeared to suffer drug overdoses.

The incidents on September 1 came after the death of Plymouth State University student Brittany Flannigan, of Derry, New Hampshire, who died en route to Beth Israel hospital shortly after midnight Wednesday, August 28.

Flannigan and two others–also transported to Beth Israel–were believed to have attended the first of two scheduled concerts featuring Zedd, a German electronic house DJ, Tuesday night, August 27th.

The House of Blues voluntarily shut down last Wednesday, canceling Zedd’s second show, before reopening Thursday, August 29.

Initial reports speculated that molly, or MDMA–a pure form of ecstasy–was associated with the House of Blues drug overdose.

The reported Boston House of Blues overdoses preceded two deaths associated with the designer drug over Labor Day weekend at the Electric Zoo musical festival in New York City. Olivia Rotondo, 20, of Providence, Rhode Island, and a junior at the University of New Hampshire, along with an unidentified 23-year old man, died Saturday morning after being rushed from the Randall’s Island concert grounds to area hospitals. Four other concertgoers also suffered from apparent overdoses believed to be connected with molly.

“I just took six hits of Molly,’’ Rotondo told EMS workers.

Following in the footsteps of the House of Blues, the founders of Electric Zoo announced on Facebook that they had canceled the final day of the Festival:

The founders of Electric Zoo send our deepest condolences to the families of the two people who passed away this weekend. Because there is nothing more important to us than our patrons, we have decided in consultation with the New York City Parks Department that there will be no show today.

The Brockton arrests of Saturday night, in addition to the recent series of overdoses at venues hosting electronic music concerts, have brought the common party drug into the national media spotlight.

The drug’s popularity has soared over the past year, due in large part to its apparent prevalence in the pop-music scene. The drug itself, however, has been available since the 1980’s.

Typically, MDMA is sold in pill form, but it can also be sold as a powder, which one can snort, inject, use orally, or smoke. The widespread sale of the drug has allowed distributers to mix or “cut” the substance with other chemicals.

The average reported age of MDMA use is 19.4-years old, making it a popular college drug. 

In an attempt to raise awareness, police officials have made molly a new focal point in the drug war.

It’s important to note that the use of molly linked to the recent alleged overdoses has yet to be confirmed by toxicology reports. Other substances could have been used instead of, or in addition to, molly.

Image via Brockton Police Department / CNN.com

image via lohud
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