ECSTASY: RUINING THE FUTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY

What is up with the young black generation of today? Lately, I have noticed
that many teens and young adults in the Hunters Point area have gotten
involved with the drug ecstasy. Ecstasy used to be common at raves and with
young white teens, but now African Americans around the ages of 16-25 are
getting involved with this drug, and all I would like to know is how did it
get into our community?

MDMA is the scientific name for the drug, but no one in da hood would know
what you were taking about if you asked to buy some MDMA on the streets.
Zoning, z/z, stunting, E, zoned out and poppin' pills are all common hood
names for ecstasy. Back in the day, black people built their lives on
survival, and the people who brought these drugs into our community are
trying to deplete our survival skills by turning us into drug slaves of the
mind.

I was a victim of the drug once. Without knowledge I tried it because I had
heard some cool things from friends about it. When I tried E, in the
beginning it made me feel good and really warm inside, and I started doing
it on the weekend with my associates. We would go to da club and have the
best time of our life, but in the morning we could barely get up.

Many of my associates kept taking the drug and are still victims, but I
didn't like the affect it had on me so I stopped and started looking up
information on the drug. Once I started looking up the facts, which told me
how the drug makes you feel after you take it, I could have slapped myself
because everything it said I had experienced. Young people are taking this
drug and being brainwashed because they lack knowledge about the risks.

After I found facts out about the drug, I stopped. And I hope that the facts
I give you today will save your life and make you think twice before taking
ecstasy.

Ecstasy gives people an energy buzz that makes them feel alert and alive.
Clubbers love it because it means they can dance for hours without feeling
tired. Ecstasy can take anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes to kick in, and
it makes people extra aware of their surroundings.

The drug also makes emotions more intense and makes you feel very sexy and
special. Users often feel great love for the people they're with and the
strangers around them, because the drug turns you into a "love bug," which
can be dangerous.

Ecstasy taken on its own is not a drug that makes people violent, but not
many people take it alone. They often chase it with drank or weed and
sometimes even both.

People who are high on E often talk a lot and what they say doesn't really
make sense to a person who isn't high on E. Ecstasy dilates the pupils,
produces a tingling feeling throughout your body, tightens your jaw muscles
(which is called jaws in the hood), raises the body temperature and makes
the heart beat faster.

No one knows what an E's got in it. There may be negative side effects from
other ingredients in the tablet that can cause death. Short-term effects can
include anxiety, panic attacks, confused episodes, first-time epileptic fits
and paranoia. Current evidence suggests that long term use can cause
depression, personality change and memory loss.

Ecstasy can make users feel a bit down afterwards. Ecstasy Blues is the term
given to the bad mood many people feel the day after taking the drug. The
drug has you up all night, and when you finally get to sleep you feel like
you can't get back up in the morning.

The drug is not safe and shouldn't be used by anyone, especially my young
black generation. The drug is not only hazardous to your body and mind, it
also damages your freedom.

Ecstasy is a Class A drug - illegal to have, give away or sell. Possession
can get you up to seven years in jail, if you're caught taking it. Supplying
someone else with it (street selling) can get you life in prison.

The drug is not good for anyone to be using, and I'm afraid that if we
continue to feed our brain with this food of destruction, the young black
generation will someday be extinct. The fact is when you're young you want
to be popular and do what everyone else thinks is cool to fit in.

The only way you can successfully survive in this world is if you make
positive decisions. Everyone has choices in life, and the choices you make
now reflect how your life will be in the future.

My momma always told me, "You make your bed, you lay in it." That would
always make me think about what I wanted to do with my life, because I know
that I want to live a comfortable life embedded in happiness. So think about
it before you pop another pill. Your life is worth more than a high, and
it's killing ya life's thrill.