LOOKING AT THE TWO SIDES OF THE 'HIGHS AND LOWS OF ECSTASY'

Thank you for publishing Linda Marsa's two-sided view of Ecstasy ("The
Highs and Lows of Ecstasy," July 16). In America's weird political climate
it must have been a tough call. While Ecstasy and other mind-altering drugs
have the potential for great social benefits (high success rates in curing
heroin and alcohol addictions, for example) their positive uses are still
outweighed by the fact that they are illegal even for therapeutic use by
licensed physicians. When will our politicians have the courage to
acknowledge that the illegality of drugs is by far the major source of the
problems surrounding them. When will enough people wake up to this simple
fact and begin electing politicians who will work to undo our modern
Prohibition.

Open-minded stories such as Marsa's and your willingness to publish them
seem to be almost the only rays of hope for rationality.

Karl Simanonok
Long Beach

The Health section does children a disservice by publishing articles such
as "The Highs and Lows of Ecstasy." By featuring anecdotal positive leads,
you contribute to a feeling of harmlessness for a very dangerous and
illegal drug. The week before, the section featured a column on marijuana.
Shouldn't the front page of Health feature healthy stories.

Madhuri Pottathil
Los Angeles

"The Highs and Lows of Ecstasy" was a thought-provoking article. The work
that the Multidisciplinary Assn. for Psychedelic Research is doing is of
particular interest. It is only sad that the "war on drugs" has almost
completely precluded the possibility of exploring the value of this
potentially very beneficial drug. Politicians are so concerned that someone
might use something to feel pleasure that they deny the rest of us the
possibility of a wonderful new medicine.

Miranda Collins
Valley Village

I was fascinated by the article on the emerging use of Ecstasy to resolve
depression. The continuous search for miracle drugs accentuates the most
obvious fact about current mental health treatment: Most doctors have
little idea what causes depression or other mental illness. Thus they are
forced to suppress severe mental symptoms through chemical means.

Chinese medicine realizes that depression is a symptom, not a disease. And
symptoms have causes. Rather than trying Ecstasy to kill the pain, a more
effective and long-lasting approach would be to try an alternative mental
health approach: Heal the cause.

Dan Stradford
Los Angeles

Thanks so much for the fair-minded story on the drug Ecstasy (MDMA). This
drug is so therapeutically promising that we should be thankful for it. But
like most serious tools, it is not a plaything. That's no reason for
agencies such as the National Institute for Drug Abuse and the Drug
Enforcement Administration to exaggerate about its risks. Like thousands of
other drugs, MDMA is a blessing in the right situation, dose and frequency.
The negative consequences of misuse, however, do not make a drug evil --not
MDMA, not aspirin, not critically dose-dependent heart medicines. Drug
warriors: Why don't you grow up.

Paul M. Bischke
Board Member, Drug Policy Reform Group of Minnesota

Ecstasy (MDMA) use is indeed on the rise; and the danger is not the drug
itself, but rather the black market created by the illegal nature of the
substance. Adulterants such as PMA are much, much more dangerous than the
"real thing," and as a result people die. Prohibition is killing more
people than drug use ever will.

Alissa Huskey
Paramount