TEEN-AGERS TELL CONGRESS OF ECSTASY'S HIGHS, LOWS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two teen-agers told Congress on Monday how they
became addicted to Ecstasy, a drug at the center of what some experts say
is a budding epidemic of abuse comparable to the rise of crack cocaine.

"I spent years chasing the first, magical high and that chase almost killed
me" said Dayna Moore, now 16, whose first Ecstasy pill at age 14 led her to
try hard drugs, including cocaine.

"I was a normal kid, and Ecstasy took me down a deadly, destructive path
that I could never have imagined," she told a hearing of the Senate
Government Affairs Committee.

Philip McCarthy, 17, who like Moore is in treatment at a residential clinic
in Long Island, said: "For three years my life revolved around Ecstasy,
getting high and finding the money to get high."

He said he robbed homes to find the money to pay for a habit which cost him
$300 a week.

The two, both from middle-class homes, told of the painful cycle of highs
and lows that brought them to daily usage, destroying their family
relationships and academic records.

"You're trying to do more pills, different kinds, to try to get that same
first high, and it doesn't happen," Moore said. "And when you come down off
the pills you're back to reality again, and you're very depressed and your
whole body hurts. You want to do that pill again to get back up there."

Called E or X by users, scientists refer to the drug by its chemical name,
3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA for short.

Touchy-Feely Feeling

Ecstasy's popularity stems from what users describe as the loving and
touchy-feely feelings it creates. The drug is dispensed as pills, which can
be brightly colored and decorated with "smiley faces" and four-leaf clovers.

Once confined to dance clubs and all-night music parties called raves,
Ecstasy has spread in recent years from major cities to suburban high
schools across the nation.

Moore and McCarthy obtained Ecstasy through networks of friends. All it
took was a phone call to refresh supplies.

"It's easy to find. You just pick up the phone and make one phone call, and
someone could be at your house dropping it off," Moore said.

"MDMA is one of the most problematic drugs that have emerged in recent
years," said Donald Vereen, Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. "The misnomer, Ecstasy, which implies a benign substance,
is one of the most harmful aspects of this particular epidemic."

A disturbing aspect of Ecstasy abuse is users' lack of understanding about
negative affects of the drug, he said. These range from a dangerous
increase in body temperature and dehydration to the risk of kidney and
heart failure.

As demand rose, so did supply, John Varrone, assistant commissioner of the
U.S. Customs Service, told the hearing. He pointed to the 9 million tablets
seized by customs in 2000, up from 400,000 in 1997.

He said trafficking to the United States has spread in the past year from
traditional sources like Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt to countries in the
Caribbean and Asia.

The experts said educating the public about the harmful effects of Ecstasy
- -- the key component of a bill recently introduced in the Senate -- was the
most important action Congress could take to combat the epidemic.