UNHAPPY ENDINGS

Ecstasy Isn't Something You Find In A Pill

Peace, love and happiness don't come on demand, but it's hard to get that
across when teen-agers want quick answers and quick results. To a number of
young people, the route through pills and powders, weed and alcohol seems
more inviting than the time it takes to develop self-confidence and a
secure base for happiness.

According to a 2000 survey of teens by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 51 percent said they expect never
to try illegal drugs, down from 60 percent in 1999. The survey noted that
for the sixth consecutive year, teens identified drugs as their greatest
concern, that marijuana was easier to buy than cigarettes and that ecstasy,
a synthetic drug that acts simultaneously as a stimulant and a
hallucinogen, is prevalent.

Ecstasy appears to be the drug of choice for white suburban teens in
particular, and the only one that gained in popularity between 1999 and
2000. The drug, which affects moods, sleeping and eating habits,
sensitivity to pain, visual and verbal memory, reasoning processes, blood
pressure and the heart rate, is deceptively and cruelly named. How
deceptive was evident in the overdose deaths of two area college students
in the past year.

Equally disturbing is the widespread misinformation that draws teens into
experimenting with drugs and alcohol. They believe ecstasy is not harmful
or that whatever effects it has can be easily neutralized.

The persistent popularity of ecstasy, LSD and other drugs favored by teens
offers a constant reminder that preventing the abuse of drugs and
substances requires a continuing effort of education and watchfulness.

Numerous campaigns and prevention programs have been in existence for
years, educating children and adults alike about the risks of drug abuse.
They face a formidable disadvantage: the allure of designer drugs that
rapidly replace others, and a youth culture that is often about being
``cool'' and accepted.

Much as school and other public programs help in disseminating information,
it is frequent interaction with parents and family that is critical in
steering children and teens from drug use. One of the findings reported in
the 2000 CASA survey was that teens who live with ``hands-on'' parents --
who establish a household culture of rules and expectations for their
teen's behavior and monitor what their teens do -- are at one-quarter the
risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs as teens with ``hands-off'' parents.

The effects of ecstasy are severe. With some attention, perceptive parents
should be able to tell whether their teens are using drugs. It'll be a
naive parent, indeed, who thinks cheap wrist or ankle beads -- as familiar
a fashion statement as hip-hugging pants and ear studs -- serve as evidence
of who may or may be into ecstasy.