DANCESAFE OR SORRY?

JOHN QUINONES, ABCNEWS When we hear the term illegal drugs, most of us
think of cocaine, heroin, speed, the kind of drug that's sold on dark
street corners in any major city in America. Well, that's not the case with
the latest drug sweeping the nation. It's being sold from Main Street to
Wall Street, from high schools to the Silicon Valley. It's as popular here
in the big city as it is in suburbia. And yet, it looks so innocent, this
tiny pill that packs a powerful punch. (VO) Saturday night and it's party
time. Anywhere in the US. It's a Rave, an underground bash with nonstop
dancing that could well go on for 48, maybe 72 hours. And yet, there is no
letup in the pulse or the energy. So much of it fueled by a tiny colorful
pill that looks like candy. It's called Ecstasy. Talk to almost anyone who
has tried Ecstasy and they'll tell you they think it's a joyride.

1ST WOMAN There's a body high. There's definitely a physical body high.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Just what is it about this pill that makes people so
willing to ignore the risks? Ecstasy works on the brain, forcing nerve
cells to increase their production of serotonin, the chemical responsible
for the positive feelings of joy, euphoria and elation. Users of Ecstasy
say, just minutes after taking the drug, they begin to feel more accepting
of the world around them. Happy, blissful, quite simply, ecstatic. To
experience that high, users are willing to ignore the potentially damaging
psychological and physical effects of Ecstasy. We'll talk about that later.
Today, among teen-agers, Ecstasy is the only drug whose use is on the rise.
Millions of these pills are now pouring into the country, from California
to Texas to New York. Steve Casteel is a chief intelligence officer with
the Drug Enforcement Administration.

STEVE CASTEEL In 1993, law enforcement seized less than 200 pills in all
the United States. Last year we seized 12 million. Six-year difference, how
quickly it's come upon us.

JOHN QUINONES From 200 pills to how many million?

STEVE CASTEEL Twelve - over 12 million last year.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) And that staggering increase has created even more
dangerous and deadly problems with Ecstasy. (OC) So many people are doing
Ecstasy, so much money being made in the trafficking of it, that there's
now a huge market in copycat drugs. Drugs like paramethoxyamphetamine, PMA,
known on the streets as death. (VO) Enter DanceSafe.

BROOK ALYANG I think it makes more sense with the Ecstasy to be over here.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) A controversial new group whose mission is to identify
copycats like PMA and warn users. But the way DanceSafe accomplishes that
goal has some parents and authorities up in arms. While DanceSafe is
adamant about the dangers of Ecstasy copycats, it refuses to condemn the
use of Ecstasy itself. In fact, it goes even further.

1ST MAN See these cards. Behind each card is just factual information.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) It sets up tables at Rave parties frequented by
teen-agers, tests their Ecstasy pills and then hands the drugs right back
to the kids. Brook Alyang is the director of DanceSafe's chapter in the Bay
area.

BROOK ALYANG I know that if we weren't here, a lot of people would either
be taking bad things or, you know, I know that what we're doing helps.

EMANUEL SFERIOS, FOUNDER, DANCESAFE We want to keep people alive and as
healthy as possible until they're ready to make their own choice to stop using.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Emanuel Sferios is a former Ecstasy user and the founder
of DanceSafe.

EMANUEL SFERIOS We are health care workers. We see ourselves as a public
health organization. Reducing drug-related harm by providing life-saving
information to users.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Could that kind of information have saved the lives of
two Illinois teen-agers just a few months ago?

911 OPERATOR (From call) 911 emergency, what is your emergency?

2ND WOMAN (From call) He's not breathing.

911 OPERATOR (From call) He's not breathing? How do you know about the
drugs, the Ecstasy?

2ND WOMAN (From call) Because I know that's what he took. He told us.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Steve Lorenz, just 17 years old, was partying in an
apartment just above his father's home in McHenry, Illinois, when he
suddenly went into convulsions.

2ND MAN About 5:30 in the morning I heard kind of like dancing or kicking,
or - I wasn't sure what it was and I thought, 'OK, the music is going to go
on, typical party.'

JOHN QUINONES (VO) But the party had ended and his son was dying from the
copycat drug PMA. (OC) Did he know this was PMA?

2ND MAN No. He - he was told it was Ecstasy.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Just six days later, in nearby Naperville, a picturesque
suburban community just outside Chicago, it happened again.

JAN AESCHLIMANN, SARA'S MOTHER She was an outgoing girl, friendly to everybody.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Her name was Sara Aeschlimann, a high school senior who,
like so many kids her age, had started experimenting with Ecstasy. She was
partying at a friend's house on a Saturday night last May.

JAN AESCHLIMANN The next morning I received a call about 10 to 10 saying
that Sara had had a seizure. They took her immediately into the emergency
room. I never did see her conscious again.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) The all-American girl who had been out for a night of
fun was dead. She was 18.

JAN AESCHLIMANN Her body was bleeding. Her organs were shutting down. From
what I understand, she didn't feel any pain.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) The people at DanceSafe say, if only Sara and Steve had
had their drugs tested, they might be alive today.

3RD MAN It turns black, right?

BROOK ALYANG It should.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) And that's why the organization says it's out here, to
save lives.

BROOK ALYANG A lot of times when we're here, people selling bunk pills
won't sell. They'll leave. And sometimes dealers get mad at us. But that's
- - I don't care. You know, we're not here for the dealers. We're here for
our peers.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Of course, the possession of Ecstasy, a dangerous and
illegal substance, is a crime. Yet DanceSafe does this right out in the
open. Here's how the test works. The Ecstasy user hands over his or her
pill for a quick analysis.

1ST MAN Did you get it here? Did you buy it here? OK, I have to give it
back to you?

BROOK ALYANG No, I got to scrape it first.

1ST MAN Oh, sorry.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Watch closely. If the pill changes color immediately to
dark purple or black, then it's tested positive for the presence of Ecstasy.

BROOK ALYANG It detected some real Ecstasy.

4TH MAN What?

BROOK ALYANG It detected some real Ecstasy. But that doesn't mean it's
pure, safe.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) But no matter what these testers find, remember, the
pill is always handed back to the user. No one is ever told to take or not
to take the drug. The partier disappears into the night, perhaps not
realizing that even pure Ecstasy can kill.

ELIZABETH VARGAS, ABCNEWS Is DanceSafe really doing what it claims,
providing an important public service? Or is it putting young people at risk?

STEVE CASTEEL I think safe may be the wrong word in their name. Maybe it
should be 'Dance Deadly,' or 'Dance Dangerous.'

(Commercial break)

ANNOUNCER What are they thinking? Successful men funding DanceSafe, a group
that tests drugs and raves and hands them right back to kids.

STEVE SIMITZES Let's make sure you're taking the chemical that you wanted
to take.

ANNOUNCER Then, Cat Stevens. The rock legend who disappeared, 20 years
later find out why, when 20/20 DOWNTOWN continues after this from our ABC
stations.

(Commercial break)

ANNOUNCER The conclusion of DANCE SAFE...OR SORRY, once again, John Quinones.

JOHN QUINONES As we've seen all over the country, Ecstasy is now the
hottest illegal drug on the market. It's in New York City, Seattle, Miami,
and in small towns like Peoria. But along with Ecstasy have come the
copycat drugs. And they are at least as dangerous as the real thing.

STEVE CASTEEL Now this is the ballistics laboratory.

JOHN QUINONES The DEA Steve Casteel is an expert on Ecstasy. Recently he
took me on a tour of the agency's drug analysis laboratory outside Washington.

STEVE CASTEEL Notice the colors, the shapes.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Where I saw hundreds of pills that look identical to
Ecstasy. Put the fake pill next to the real thing and to the human eye
there's no difference. And that's why this group, DanceSafe, was founded,
to protect users from the deadly copycats. It may sound like a good idea,
but Steve Casteel says DanceSafe is condoning the use of drugs and worse.
Ignoring the risk of the drug Ecstasy itself. He says Ecstasy is
psychologically addicting, so while your mood can soar on the drug, it can
also come crashing down. As the drug wears off, reality kicks in and users
feel depressed.

STEVE CASTEEL And then it becomes a chase. Always get the high back again.
And they never really ever can get that high back that they first had.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) There are also potentially fatal, physical side effects.
Using pure Ecstasy causes the body to dehydrate. And that's why you see so
many people at these raves constantly drinking water. (OC) While on
Ecstasy, the body's temperature can rise dramatically to dangerous levels.
And that can be a problem out here on a hot dance floor. Take too many
pills and your body's organs begin to shutdown leading to a coma. Around
the world, dozens of people have died after overdosing on Ecstasy.

BROOK ALYANG What we can do is like nick a little puncture and kind of
squeeze them out.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) But that hasn't stopped DanceSafe from it's self
appointed task of testing Ecstasy at raves.

BROOK ALYANG Even though we did this, we just want you to know that it's
not pure. It doesn't mean that it's safe and it doesn't tell you how much
is in it.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) The DEA says the problem is DanceSafe has no expertise
to test any drug.

OFFSCREEN VOICE It's good though huh?

1ST MAN We can't say that it's good.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) It's volunteers and they usually only get one day of
training for their on-site testing. And their inexperience shows. We
watched as they tested pill after pill after pill without ever changing or
cleaning the razor, apparently unconcerned about possible cross
contamination. Not only that, we discovered some of the testers are ravers
and Ecstasy users themselves. DanceSafe does point out that when testing
pill pills, all of its volunteers must be sober and drug free. But the fact
is, none of these testers are licensed laboratory technicians.

STEVE CASTEEL The field tests they do is so inconclusive. It doesn't tell
you what else is in there. Doesn't tell you if it's strong Ecstasy, weak
Ecstasy. It doesn't even really tell you if it's Ecstasy.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Not so says DanceSafe's founder.

EMANUEL SFERIOS Ecstasy releases seratonin...

JOHN QUINONES (VO) He says that the program is effective and that any drug
testing is better than doing nothing. After all, he says, these partiers
are going to take the drug anyway.

EMANUEL SFERIOS The drug war has been a miserable failure. We have not
stopped the spread of drugs. (Clip from ad shown)

EMANUEL SFERIOS People who lived through the Nancy Reagan "Just Say No"
years... (Clip from ad shown)

EMANUEL SFERIOS ...have seen that. We need to try something different.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) But what troubles authorities most about DanceSafe, is
its practice of scraping the pill and giving it back to the partier, with
no warning whatsoever against the use of illegal drugs. (OC) Sounds like,
and it looks like, you're endorsing drug use.

EMANUEL SFERIOS Well, you know, that criticism has only come from the media
and a few uneducated law enforcement officials who we haven't spoken to yet.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) The testing at the raves, he says, is simply an effort
to save lives. In fact, DanceSafe compares it's work to needle exchange
programs that try to prevent the spread of disease among IV drug users.

EMANUEL SFERIOS We see that as a good parallel. Needle exchange programs
were one of the first harm reduction services to become popular. And pill
testing, like needle exchange, is a service.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) But where does DanceSafe get the money to conduct this
operation? Well, you may be surprised to hear that much of its funding
comes from some big names from, of all places, the Silicon Valley. Ecstasy
supporters, like Bob Wallace and Steve Simitzes, who have given tens of
thousands of dollars to DanceSafe. (OC) What do you say to those folk folks
who look at DanceSafe and say, these folks, the people you're funding,
sanction drug use?

STEVE SIMITZES Well, they don't sanction drug use. They don't encourage
people to go take drugs. What they do say, 'Well, if you're already going
to take drugs, here's what it's going to do to you and let's make sure
you're taking the chemical that you wanted to take.'

JOHN QUINONES (VO) Simitzes is a millionaire, just 25 years old and the
founder of his own Internet company. He says he doesn't use Ecstasy
himself, but that it's the rage in the Internet industry, despite all the
warnings.

STEVE SIMITZES Some of the most powerful, successful, influential people I
know are Ecstasy users, or have been Ecstasy users in the past.

JOHN QUINONES Really?

STEVE SIMITZES Oh, absolutely.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) And then there's Bob Wallace, one of the original
employees at Microsoft who also supports what DanceSafe is doing. (OC) Mr.
Wallace, you've given thousands of dollars to this organization so that it
can confirm what these kids are taking is Ecstasy.

BOB WALLACE And confirm that what they're taking sometimes is not Ecstasy
and, in fact, could be very dangerous.

JOHN QUINONES (VO) And it's that message that's making DanceSafe a hit with
the rave crowd.

5TH MAN Sounds to me like they care about kids. People are dying from
things that are in Ecstasy besides Ecstasy, and people are dying because of
misinformation and not knowing how to be safe.

STEVE CASTEEL I think safe maybe is the wrong word in their name. Maybe it
should be 'Dance Deadly' or 'Dance Dangerous.'

JOHN QUINONES (VO) And what about the parents of those two young victims
whose lives ended so tragically, so suddenly? Well they don't think anyone
should be checking illegal drugs and then handing them back to the user.

6TH MAN Now, if there's an organization that wants to go there and they
want to test your pills to make sure they're OK, to me, that's
self-defeating. That's like saying 'OK, do them.'

JAN AESCHLIMANN My first sense is to think that they need to confiscate the
drugs, not promote it. Looking at the drug and handing it back, it - it
gives them the feeling that it's OK. That's not the message that should be
out there. It's not OK.

ELIZABETH VARGAS How long DanceSafe can exist outside the law remains to be
seen. But apparently the group does not intend to be stopped by its
critics. Currently there are plans to open 20 more chapters around the
country, and DanceSafe is even holding it's first national conference this
month. If you'd like to weigh-in with your opinion on DanceSafe, you can
chat live with its founder Emanuel Sferios and the DEA Steve Casteel,
tomorrow at 4 PM Eastern time. You can post a question anytime, just log on
to 2020.abcnews.com.