CLUB DRUGS

They Can Be Difficult To Detect In Teens, Especially When The Clues Seem So
Benign

Your 15-year-old daughter returns from a friend's house smelling like
blueberries; you think, "Girls today, dousing themselves in these crazy
fruity scents."

Your 17-year-old son carries a half-filled water bottle when he leaves for
the night; you think, "Wow, he must be pretty dehydrated from basketball
practice."

Your college freshman, home for spring break, fishes his retainer from his
nightstand after a two-year sabbatical; you think, "He's finally taken an
interest in proper oral health care."

But what you don't know is your daughter may be drinking engine degreaser,
your son is downing capfuls of a date-rape-like drug, and your college
kid's Ecstasy use is grinding away three years' worth of orthodontia. In
other words, you might think your teenager has avoided the lure of club
drugs, but you'd be wrong.

Teenagers are known to exhibit unusual behavior even when drug-free. But a
combination of increased availability and low perceived harm of club drugs
such as Ecstasy (3-4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA,) GHB
(gammahydroxybutyrate) and Ketamine (a veterinary anesthetic) has yielded a
dramatic increase in use among teens. What's more, their indulgence often
is far less obvious than that betrayed by the bloodshot eyes of pot or the
stink of booze.

'I don't do drugs, I just do Ecstasy'

"I've heard, 'I don't do drugs, I just do Ecstasy,' more times than I can
count," said Theresa Lacey, a Loyola University freshman and volunteer
coordinator for the Chicago chapter of DanceSafe, a not-for-profit
harm-reduction organization promoting safety within the rave and nightclub
community. Raves are massive dance parties that may involve club drugs.
"Many kids don't think it's a drug because it's not messy. Nothing is going
up their nose or in a vein; there's none of the conventional social
construction of what a drug is."

Dr. Jerrold Leikin, associate medical director of emergency services at
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, described club drugs as a
growing menace that is just starting to catch parents' attention. Helping
attract that attention are well publicized overdoses, such as the March 17
death of 20-year-old James C. Roberts III of Dayton, Ohio, who died after a
party in Rosemont.

"There's an almost unlimited amount of substances that can be abused out
there," Leikin said. "Parents need to have a heightened suspicion of any
aberrant behavior by a child or teenager."

Mood swings, slurred speech and academic slumps, he said, are typical
warning signs; less obvious may be the aforementioned retainer use to
correct shifting caused by bruxism (tooth grinding), a common Ecstasy side
effect.

Surveying more than 45,000 high school students, the National Institute on
Drug Abuse's 2000 Monitoring the Future study found that although overall
illicit drug use has remained stable or decreased during the last four
years, Ecstasy is one of the few drugs showing a statistically significant
increase from 1999 to 2000. Eleven percent of high school seniors reported
having tried Ecstasy at least once, up from 8 percent the previous year.
Its perceived availability also increased.

Teens can easily buy pills and tonics from nutrition stores or over the
Internet, perfectly legal substances that produce the same effects as
common club drugs. For instance, Leikin said, certain muscle-building and
sleep-enhancing supplements contain a substance called GBL, which upon
ingestion converts to GHB. Also called Liquid G, GHB is a salty, odorless
liquid that can cause everything from mild hallucinations and euphoria to
retrograde amnesia, coma and respiratory failure.

Last New Year's, a 19-year-old Downers Grove woman almost died after
ingesting GBL in the form of Verve, an auto degreaser that can smell like
artificial blueberry.

Paraphernalia includes pacifiers

Steve Svoboda, DanceSafe's Chicago liaison, listed certain paraphernalia
that could suggest club drug use, including pacifiers (to relieve
clenching,) Vicks VapoRub (Ecstasy enhances sensations of smell, taste and
touch,) or 5-HTP, a supplement taken to offset Ecstasy-induced depression
the day after. But Svoboda was quick to point out that club drugs are not
confined to the rave community.

Nevertheless, in mid-March, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley advocated stiffened
penalties for building owners who knowingly permit raves where illegal
drugs are sold and used. The proposal was in reaction to the recent trend
of rave promoters moving parties from illegal warehouses to legitimate
entertainment venues, thus evading current ordinances.

"If your kid goes to raves, that doesn't mean he does drugs," Svoboda said,
however. "I would say there are less under-the-influence party kids at
raves than there are . . . at bars, clubs or even Cubs games."

In an attempt to screen out potentially lethal substances mixed into
Ecstasy, such as speed or DXM (an active ingredient in cough suppressant,)
DanceSafe has provided free pill-testing booths at Chicago-area venues,
including the Harvey Expo Center. Svoboda acknowledged that although
abstinence would be ideal, "the kid with pill in hand, ready to consume,
obviously is ignoring every abstinence message the government or concerned
parents can provide. All we can do is wind up discouraging them from taking
it by telling them it's not what they expected."

And sometimes the issue isn't just the damage that a drug can do to a body
but also what can befall someone who is under the influence of the drugs.

So DanceSafe talks with teens (particularly adolescent females and gay
males) about the risk of sexual assault, which is heightened by drugs such
as Ecstasy and GHB.

Lacey explained that Ecstasy tends to lower inhibitions and increase trust
between strangers and that GHB can cause amnesia, both opening the doorway
to becoming a victim.

And that, according to DanceSafe and others trying to get the word out,
would be good not to forget.

TERMS THAT CAN MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN

The lexicon of club drugs can be as confusing as the symptoms of use.

Here is a primer on terms:

- - Bumps: Ketamine powder is snorted in the form of bumps.

- - Caps: GHB is ingested orally, usually from the cap of a water bottle.

- - G-ing out: overdosing on GHB.

- - K-Hole: Achieving the out-of-body experience and hallucinations produced
by Ketamine, during which it may be very difficult to move.

- - P.L.U.R.: A common mantra at raves, stands for "Peace, Love, Unity, Respect."

- - Rolling: While on Ecstasy, the user may experience waves of pleasurable
feelings.

Common names for club drugs:

- - Ecstasy: X, E, MDMA, rolls.

- - GHB: G, Liquid G.

- - Ketamine: K, Special K, Vitamin K