THE AGONY OF ECSTASY HITS HOME IN MARYLAND

Dangerous drug: Appeal of youth "club drug" soaring despite insidious,
lasting health effects.

ECSTASY, chemically known as MDMA, is no longer just a "club drug,"
confined to frenetic dancers at all-night "rave" parties.

It is the fastest-growing illegal drug in Maryland and in the United
States. It may not be physically addictive, but it can permanently damage
the brain, harm the kidney and liver, cause heart attacks, comas and
seizures. And Ecstasy can kill.

The latest drug-use survey of nearly 35,000 Maryland schoolchildren
confirms the rising appeal of this stimulant-hallucinogen pill. Use among
state 12th-graders doubled in just four years. A nationwide study finds
that one in nine seniors has tried Ecstasy.

And school-based statistics understate the drug's popularity.

Surveys find MDMA in wider use by 18- to-25- year-olds and by juvenile
offenders no longer in school.

Maryland State Police handled 128 Ecstasy cases last year, only 13 in 1998.
The Maryland Poison Center recorded 110 cases.

Emergency room cases have soared with increased recognition by staff.

The state is responding with intensified law enforcement, monitoring and
treatment efforts and an education campaign with the nation's first TV
spots on Ecstasy.

The biggest problem is convincing youths of Ecstasy's danger. Too many
falsely believe that they can avoid harm by drinking water and cooling
down, countering higher body temperatures and dehydration caused by the drug.

They think that buying pure MDMA, instead of pills containing other drugs
or poisons, will protect them, even though Ecstasy is made in underground
home labs for street sale.

Ecstasy is insidious because its effects of euphoria and high energy soon
wear off, bringing on symptoms of confusion, depression and paranoia weeks
later. There's strong clinical evidence of organ damage and long-term loss
of visual and verbal memory.

Prison penalties for Ecstasy crimes were tripled this year. Yet defenders
trivialize it as "kiddie dope" and promote its "safe" usage through
Internet chat rooms.

The increasingly sad truth is entirely different. Ecstasy is destructive
misery.