'ROLLING' WITH USERS HIGH ON DRUG ECSTASY

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a series on the "club drug" Ecstasy.
The series is designed to give readers a look into the world of Ecstasy use
in light of the recent increase in activity concerning the drug reported by
a number of Seacoast police departments. The information contained in this
series was gleaned from telephone interviews, e-mail chats and face-to-face
conversations with Ecstasy users and sellers. Their names have been changed
to protect their identity. In the first installment, Brian, Luke and Mike
(not their real names), three 19-year-olds, had begun their first
experiment with taking the drug. We join them as they begin their experience.

Brian swallows his Ecstasy pill.

"It tastes awful," he says, reaching for the blue Gatorade he bought to
fight the drug-induced dehydration.

Mike and Luke swallow theirs. Brian stands up and breaths in and out
deeply, trying to sense any change.

"In 30 minutes, your whole body will start to tingle," Ben, a friend who
has taken the drug, tells the trio of first-timers. "In an hour, you'll be
'rolling.' You'll love it. It's the greatest feeling in the world."

Use is increasing

That "sell" has obviously been heard by a large number of high-schoolers,
college students and young adults.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institute of Drug
Abuse reported that the number of 12th-graders who used Ecstasy increased
from 5.8 percent in 1998 to 8 percent in 1999. The statistics for
10th-graders indicate that while 3.3 percent reported using the drug in
1998, 4.4 percent of the children in that grade reported using the drug
last year.

In 1999, 2.7 percent of eighth-graders reported using Ecstasy.

The 1998 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse revealed that a total of
3.4 million Americans have reported using Ecstasy in their lifetimes, with
the largest number, 1.4 million, being in the 18- to 25-year-old range.

"The more I realize it, the harder it is to stereotype who does it," said
Picasso, a 28-year-old Ecstasy user. "I have only taken it at clubs, so the
people there are just like me - normal, in their 20s and early 30s,
although I have been to a few clubs where I have seen men and women in
their 40s 'rolling' (under the influence of Ecstasy) their a--es off."

"There are the kids that drink and the kids that smoke weed (marijuana) and
the kids who do harder drugs," said Sean Holt, a 19-year-old who said he
has never tried Ecstasy. "You can always tell who is which group. But with
E (another name for Ecstasy), literally anybody could be doing it. It's not
just something that hard-core druggies or rave-kids (young people who go to
dances called 'raves') or club kids are doing. It's everyone."

"Ecstasy is the drug of my generation," said Dave, an 18-year-old, who said
he has used Ecstasy.

The experience

Ecstasy - also called X, E, or the "hug drug" - can produce the full
spectrum of human emotions, making it difficult for users to explain the
experience - called "rolling" - of taking the drug. The quantity and purity
of the pill, along with the mind-setcq of the user and the user's
environment, all influence the drug's effects.

Users say the drug produces a wave of energy that can make a shy wallflower
exceedingly social and talkative. The drug allows them to become calm,
focused and introspective, said users from the Seacoast and around the
nation in recent face-to-face interviews, e-mails and telephone interviews.

The drug does not produce a wasted out-of-it feeling, but instead a feeling
that ranges from peaceful, yet intensely sober, to a sense that everything
in the world is beautiful. Some users say the drug's effects are not
temporary like those produced by alcohol or marijuana, but as life-changing.

"I can't believe how much fun I'm having," Dom, 32, remembers saying to
himself during his first Ecstasy experience three years ago. A native of
Portsmouth, Dom is a physician who moved to Oregon three years ago. "It was
a blast. I can't remember feeling so good than during that next week. I
felt confident, hopeful, loved, caring and excited about life in general.
It was as if my understanding of the universe had just increased tenfold,
and I began to significantly change my life."

Mary, a 25-year-old user, had a similar life-affirming experience.

"While doing E for the first time, I definitely felt a sense of confidence
in myself that I hadn't before. Not like 'I can do anything, I am
invincible,' more like I really liked myself and who I was," she said. "I
used to be really shy and have a lot more insecurities about myself. Doing
E for the first time made me realize that I like the person I am and I am
happy with my life. This all stayed the same later when I came down. Just
doing E made me realize it, and how much I love life."

Along with the increased love of life, users say the drug also heightens
sensations. Common smells provoke lucid memories; water tastes like it's
been drawn from a desert oasis; music overwhelms the body's rhythm (which
accounts for the majority of the drugs use being associated with dance
clubs and raves); and a simple back rub becomes an intensely pleasurable
physical experience.

Ecstasy causes nerve cells to release their stored serotonin - a chemical
in the brain that is, among other things, the body's primary regulator of
mood and emotion - and prevents it from being reabsorbed. The brain is
drenched with excess serotonin, causing the user to become overwhelmed by
an exhilarating sense of universal empathy, euphoria, emotional openness,
an elimination of critical and cynical thoughts, a loss of inhibitions and
a desire to touch others.

According to Ryan, a 19-year-old user, it feels like "a year's worth of
happiness in three hours."

The combination of these effects causes users to feel an immediate
connection and openness with others.

Mary said Ecstasy brought her closer to her boyfriend.

"It was really easy for us to talk to each other about things, everything,
like how we felt about each other, falling in love - things like that which
before were harder to say because of fears of getting hurt, moving too
fast, etc. We also talked about other stuff, just like insecurities,
growing up, fears, dreams, love - everything," she said. "It made us open
up to each other faster and, I think, learn to trust each other more
quickly because of everything we talked about. The days after we do E, it
is actually easier to talk because we know we can say anything. To me, that
is the best part of E, the emotional connection we feel when we roll
together and how it carries over into every aspect of our relationship and
just makes it so much easier to be honest and talk."

Back in the living room

"It's like when your ears pop and you can suddenly hear better. It's like
that a thousand times for every sensation of your body," said Luke,
two-and-a-half hours after consuming his first Ecstasy pill.

Brian tugs his left ear, then his right. His lips curl into a wide smile as
shivers of euphoria cascade through his body.

The drug has dilated his pupils. His eyes look like two giant black marbles
floating in pools of cream.

Next Week: Rolling at the Rave.