STATE OF EMERGENCY IN DRUG ABUSE

At the point an illegal drug is ingested, there is obviously no thought
given to the risk just taken. Rather, it is the high that is anticipated.

But then a temporary escape from life turns into a battle to stay alive.
The heart starts to race, breathing becomes difficult. There is confusion
and delirium - and an ambulance ride ahead. Everything bad that the user
heard about drugs has come true.

This is happening more and more, according to a report by the federal
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Drug-related emergency room
visits hit a record level last year, rising to 601,776 from 554,932 in 1999.

The highest increase was recorded in illnesses associated with abuse of
so-called club drugs. Emergency room visits related to Ecstasy increased 58
percent, most involving patients age 25 and younger.

Whatever young people are hearing about the dangers of Ecstasy, it isn't
getting through - at least not until the drug actually starts hurting them.

It is not just Ecstasy that is rushing people to the hospital. The Chicago
metropolitan area experienced a 16 percent increase in emergency room
visits caused by the use of illegal drugs of all kinds. Cocaine- and
heroin-related illnesses were significantly higher.

The federal health services agency says its analysis should not be taken as
a measure of the prevalence of drug use in the population. But we suspect
those doctors and nurses in the emergency rooms might think otherwise as
they struggle to save more people from killing themselves with drugs.

The immediate response to the health agency's survey might be to crack down
on dealers - particularly those dealing club drugs.

That is already being done. Lawmakers in Springfield and Washington are
continuing to seek harsher penalties for selling Ecstasy, as they should.
But as more dealers get sent off to jail, more drug abusers are being
wheeled into hospital emergency rooms on gurneys.

So what else do you do? U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G.
Thompson has the obvious, but indispensable, answer.

"This report shows again that we face serious gaps in preventing and
treating substance abuse, especially with club drugs," Thompson said. "We
need to reach out to people before they become statistics in emergency
departments - or worse, in the morgue."

Those gaps need to be filled by more innovative, effective drug education
programs, more effective, realistic parent/child communication about drugs,
and Thompson putting his persuasive words into action by urging more
emphasis on treatment in the long-running federal war on drugs.