Dutch institute issues 'Red Alert' over potentially lethal Trump-shaped ecstasy pills

A Dutch drug addiction and mental health institute warned users on Friday about potentially lethal ecstasy pills shaped to look like the head of US President Donald Trump.

The Trimbos Institute said that several of the pills have been handed in recently at a network of centres that test drugs for users before they take them.

“Absolutely do not use these pills,” the institute warned.

It released a photo of the pills that have a depiction of Trump's head on one side and on the other side “NL” and “Trump” stamped into the surface either side of a vertical line.

One of the pills has a green face and another is yellow.

The institute warned in a “Red Alert” published on its website and social media that they contain a high concentration of a chemical called PMMA, or para-methoxymethamphetamine, that is similar to MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy pills.

However, PMMA is slower working than MDMA and that could lead users to take more because they think that the first pill didn't work, leading to a risk of overdosing, the institute said, adding that use of the pills “can lead to overheating with possibly deadly consequences.”

Spokesperson Anniek Groothuis said that the institute has no reported cases of serious illness or fatalities among people who may have used the drug.

“We do not know of any victims where PMMA was found in their blood,” she said.

Producing, selling and using ecstasy is illegal in the Netherlands, but it's widely used, particularly at clubs and music festivals.

A government report in 2024 said that some 550,000 people took the drug in a year.

It's not the first time ecstasy pills in the form of Trump’s head have appeared. In 2017, German police seized thousands of orange Trump-shaped tablets.