USE OF ECSTASY, OTHER 'CLUB DRUGS' ON RISE IN TRI-CITIES

Widespread abuse of the "hug drug" Ecstasy has been reported within almost
every major U.S. city. It often is used in combination with other drugs and
alcohol and has gained popularity among teen-agers and young professionals
due to the false perception that it is not as harmful or addictive as
mainstream drugs such as heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

District Attorney General Joe Crumley said the use of Ecstasy is
"definitely on the increase and apparently is a type of narcotic that can
be fairly easily produced."

Recipes for Ecstasy, or MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine), are
widely available on the Internet as well as advertisements for "raves" or
"techno" parties. Attendance at raves can range from less than 100 persons
to several thousand, with each person paying a cover charge of $10 to $50,
according to DEA.

Of the so-called "Club Drugs," including Ketamine, GHB, GBL, Rohypnol, LSD,
PCP, methamphetamine, cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms, Ecstasy is the most
popular.

Crumley said he has heard rumors of people with suitcases full of chemicals
who then sit down with a pill press and put their own name or logo on it,
such as a Volkswagen insignia, Superman crest, horses head, Playboy Bunny,
or a heart with an arrow through it. Among the more popular logos are the
Mitsubishi symbol, Rolex symbol, Pink Panther, Adidas symbol, butterfly,
lightning bolt and four-leaf clover, according to DEA.

"The kids are basically being told it's a safe drug. There's things on the
Internet about it where they tout it as being safe, but my understanding is
it can cause the body temperature to go as high as 104 degrees with one
tablet," Crumley said.

"Multiple tablets cause a breakdown in the organs, to where -- in a crude
way of saying it -- they practically melt. But you have a real problem in
liver and kidney damage. The first part of it is like a methamphetamine,
combined with LSD or mescaline. Then after several hours of rather intense
kind of tripping, a lot of times they will follow up with something to
bring them back down, commonly alcohol.

"The one that really scares me is GHB," Crumley said. "GHB can be in either
liquid or tablet form. Until recently it was sold in health food stores
like GNC. Athletes thought that if you had really intense workouts, then
you could use the GHB to really relax, sleep well, and give the muscles
time to rejuvenate. But GHB in its original form is a stripper for floors.
It's an industrial cleaning solution.

"They can sometimes buy it for as little as $80 for a 55-gallon drum, but
then it sells for about $10 for just a little cap full, like you'd take off
a Coke bottle," he said.

"A lot of times it will result in a person pretty much going unconscious
and then not having any recollection once they wake up, so it's used as a
date rape drug."

Rave parties often are characterized by loud, rapid-tempo "techno" music,
light shows, smoke or fog, and pyrotechnics. Ecstasy users often will dance
with light sticks to increase visual stimulation.

The "feel good" drug reduces inhibitions and produces feelings of empathy
for others, the elimination of anxiety, and extreme relaxation, and enables
users to endure all-night or two to three day parties.

"Apparently strong feelings come from it. They want to use a lot of bass
and drums in the music. You'll see people that do a lot of touching,
rubbing, groping, whatever. At least with the women, especially, it can be
a very sexually attractive type of drug," Crumley said.

"Along with these feelings, they'll use things like Vick's (Vapo Rub) and
put it in a surgical mask, and that apparently gives them some real strong
sensations.

"They like using glow sticks -- they get a lot of tracers from that. They
even have glow sticks that apparently have a little device that can be
fastened to their tongue. There are some smaller types that I have seen
that can be put into vending machines," he said.

The use of pacifiers also is very common at raves.

"The pacifier keeps the jaws from locking. These kids will be at the
parties, and they'll put a string around the pacifier so it can just hang
over their neck, and that way, if they want to talk, they just pull the
pacifier out," Crumley said.

"They drink a lot of water because it's believed that will keep you from
dehydrating because of the temperature rise (caused by) the Ecstasy," he said.

It's not uncommon to find pacifiers being sold for $5 each or bottled water
going for as much as $10 at raves. The Ecstasy itself averages $20-$25 per
pill, Crumley said. However, DEA documented cases where Ecstasy cost as
much as $50 per pill in Miami.

When Ecstasy users start coming down, sometimes they take another pill,
Crumley said. "That's where you run the risk of death because of the
extreme variation of temperatures and the dehydration.

"In a party that we were able to infiltrate in Johnson City, you had a lot
of kids that were just walking around with pacifiers in their mouths,
totally spaced out. And they were paying a fortune for this stuff."

Crumley said he saw one Tennessee rave site on the Internet had an
advertisement he found "really reprehensible."

"It said 'Celebrate!' and it showed a birthday cake. I think it was the
second year for this club to be in existence, and they had a group of four
children that looked to be about 4 years old, and where it said
'Celebrate!', the "E" in celebrate was backwards. That's apparently a sign
that Ecstasy will be available."

Crumley said a two-story building had been rented in downtown Johnson City
to be used for the party that night, "and it was just full of kids."

Instead of the Internet advertisement giving a location for the party, he
said, "they told them where to meet, and then they would take them in, in
groups. I guess that was to try to weed out the cops."

Crumley said he finds Ecstasy "a rather scary drug because of its candylike
appearance and the fact that they do target the young people and try to
make them believe it's a very safe drug, where it could be extremely
dangerous."

At the rave parties, he said, "A lot of times they will try to self- help
with overdoses. They may have a lot of ice available to try to lower the
body temperature or allow them to use a lot of wet cloths."

DEA conducted a sting several months ago in New Orleans and used "the old
crackhouse statute" to go after the owners of the club," Crumley said.
"They had a video where security was pretty much ignoring the kids openly
using drugs. I think the owners got about five years."

At a June 21 seminar in Johnson City sponsored by Crumley, DEA Special
Agent Michael Templeton, who was involved in the New Orleans operation,
spoke about rave clubs and showed videos from the sting. Dr. Kenneth
Ferslew, a forensic scientist from Quillen-Dishner College of Medicine,
talked about the pharmacological and medical effects of Ecstasy. The
seminar was attended by members of the 1st Judicial District, District
Attorney General Greeley Wells of the 2nd District, multi-jurisdictional
Drug Task Force agents, local agents of the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation and FBI.

Crumley said Ecstasy is being made locally as well as being brought into
the area in quantities. It carries the same penalty as LSD -- eight to 30
years in prison.

"It's a Class B felony, which is non probatable," he said.