CLUBBERS FACE BAN ON DRUG 'TOYS'

WASHINGTON There was a time when drug paraphernalia in the US meant
syringes and pipes. But the increasing popularity of the "club drug"
ecstasy has changed all that: it could now well be candy and nasal
decongestants.

In what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) calls "bizarre new
extremes", the federal government has moved to force one club to ban such
items as glow sticks, vapour rub and baby pacifiers. They say such items
enhance the effects of ecstasy, a synthetic drug that falls between
stimulant and hallucinogen.

ACLU filed a suit on Tuesday to challenge the restriction, and Graham Boyd,
director of the group's drug policy litigation project, said he was hoping
for an injunction that would allow party-goers planning to attend a Friday
"rave" in New Orleans to bring all the toys they wanted. Raves - all-night
dance events - have become associated with ecstasy.

Jim Letten, the top federal prosecutor in eastern Louisiana, said in an
interview that the restrictions were "defensible and appropriate". He
argued that the items promoted a drug culture that could harm the welfare
of young party-goers.

The ban went into effect in early August after managers of the State Palace
Theatre club agreed to confiscate glow sticks, pacifiers, masks and vapour
rubs as part of a plea bargain. The managers were originally arrested for
organising raves that authorities claimed were venues for the distribution
and use of drugs.

Joseph Keefe, the Drug Enforcement Administration's chief of operations,
last month told a Senate panel that Vick's Vaporub, commonly used to
relieve congestion, was considered ecstasy "paraphernalia" because it can
intensify the effects of the so-called "club drug". In addition, he said
eye drops and surgical masks "enhance the visual effects" of the drug.

Lollipops and pacifiers were used because they "prevent involuntary teeth
clenching", he added.

While Mr Boyd acknowledged that the banned items might be "associated with
drug use", he said the vast majority of people used them "for dancing and
for self-expression".

Claire Sterk, a professor at Emory University, who has studied teenage drug
use, said the items did not fit the federal definition of drug
paraphernalia. She said such items must "directly facilitate drug use".

Unlike paraphernalia associated with heroin and cocaine, the items
associated with ecstasy "obviously have no health consequences and don't
facilitate the drug use at all", Ms Sterk added.

Between 2000 and 2001, the use of ecstasy among eighth graders jumped by 82
per cent, and over the past four years the illegal importation and use of
the drug has jumped by more than 400 per cent, according to the DEA. Mr
Boyd said that nonetheless, "the government has to follow the rules".