THE AGONY OF ECSTASY

Two teens who are currently in a drug treatment program went before a Senate
committee last week to testify about the dangers of the popular club drug
Ecstasy.

"I spent years chasing the first, magical high, and that chase almost killed
me," said Dayna Moore, 16, of Ridge, New York.

Seventeen-year-old Philip McCarthy of Central Islip, New York, said he first
took Ecstasy because he wanted to have as much fun as all the other kids
seemed to be having at a suburban house party he was attending.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, has exploded in popularity over the course of the past
five years, thanks in large part to its widespread use at Raves --
underground, all-night dance parties. Seizures of this drug, most of which
is manufactured in Belgium and the Netherlands, have risen 430 percent just
since 1997. U.S. Customs agents, who seized 400,000 pills in 1997, seized
more than 9 million of them in 2000.

It's easy to understand why teens are easy targets for the friendly peddlers
of Ecstasy who have infiltrated their world. The synthetic, psychoactive
pill is offered up as a quick and easy road to rapturous happiness. Those
who sell it and use it call Ecstasy the "hug drug" or the "love drug" --
monikers that make the substance seem especially appealing to high school
and college students.

Teens love nothing more than to be with others their own age and to enjoy
the love and acceptance of peers. When they swallow the MDMA tablets, which
usually look like colorful candies, they feel a sudden rush of euphoria.
Ecstasy is an enactogenic drug. This means that it makes people more attuned
to their emotions and that creates a superficial environment of unity and
harmony. Imagine a room full of partying teenagers feeling nothing but
affection for one another. That's the effect produced by mass ingestion of
MDMA. As Philip McCarthy told the Senate panel, "I felt like the world was
glowing with love and my body felt unreal. It was a high I definitely wanted
again."

If hugs and kisses were the only side effects of Ecstasy, it would be hard
to object to the pretty little pills. We could all start popping them, and
there could be world peace, at long last. Unfortunately, the drug does
produce a number of harmful side effects, some of which are downright
frightening.

Canny rave organizers make special accommodations that address and downplay
some of the common problems posed by MDMA consumption. One of the side
effects is bruxism, or teeth-grinding, so pacifiers and blow-pops are
readily available. People on MDMA lose the urge to drink, so even though
they're dancing and perspiring, they don't feel thirsty; body temperature
also rises dramatically. Dehydration and hyperthermia can easily occur, so
rave participants are encouraged to buy and drink water throughout the
evening. Some rave parties have misting rooms, where overheated partygoers
can be sprayed with water. Muscle tension is also experienced by teens who
are high on Ecstasy, so massage rooms are provided at many rave venues.

Heart rate and blood pressure become elevated when Ecstasy is in a person's
system. The kidneys can be damaged. Convulsions and heart failure can occur.
Some teens have died of strokes while they were on Ecstasy.

Derived from amphetamine and methamphetamine, Ecstasy is a stimulant that
works on the central nervous system. It gives partygoers the energy to dance
all night long, but when the drug wears off, the user is utterly exhausted.
Ecstasy can deplete the vital brain chemical, serotonin, which regulates
mood, sensitivity to pain, aggression, appetite, and sleep patterns, by up
to 90 percent in only two weeks' time. It also causes the degeneration of
neurons that contain the neurotransmitter, dopamine. The brain damage that's
caused by Ecstasy is permanent. Dayna Moore told the Senate panel that she
had not been warned that anger and depression would set in after the MDMA
high wore off. "It was a depression that I couldn't stand," she said.

Even though it's a Schedule 1 controlled substance, with no accepted medical
use, there's widespread misperception among teens that ecstasy is a safe
drug to take for an evening of fun with friends. According to government
figures, use of Ecstasy by eighth-graders has risen 82 percent in the past
year. A lack of understanding about serious negative effects of Ecstasy is
one of the reasons that it's so nonchalantly abused.

The fact that recent seizures of Ecstasy have turned up pills that have been
cut with other dangerous and addictive substances such as heroin and cocaine
have added to the already serious concerns about this drug.

The drug policy office of the White House has begun a five-million-dollar
radio and Internet campaign to inform the nation's young people about the
very real dangers of Ecstasy. Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Charles Grassley
(R-Iowa) have joined together to sponsor legislation that would require more
public education about the drug. The senators also are proposing that monies
be provided to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as to the
National Institutes of Health, to fund research.

For the sake of our country's young people, let's support this bipartisan
effort. Write to your representatives in Washington today and also ask your
school board to vigorously promote awareness about Ecstasy and other
life-wrecking drugs.