NETHERLANDS TAKES TOLERANT STANCE ON POPULAR, ILLEGAL DRUG

At a crowded party at the edge of this city's red-light district, the theme
one recent night was 1980s retro, the music was blaring and much of the
crowd was in an Ecstasy-energized frenzy.

"Is this a great party or what?" said a sweaty young American, pushing his
way to the bar for three glasses of tap water for himself and two friends.
When people are on the drug that's often called just "e," they feel elated
and packed with pep. Often they dance so hard that consuming lots of water
is essential to prevent serious dehydration.

Drug enforcement officials, lawmakers and healthcare experts in the United
States are sounding a new nationwide alarm about Ecstasy, also known as "x"
or "happy pills," calling it the newest and fastest-growing drug in the
illegal marketplace.

But here in the Netherlands, where an estimated 80 percent of the world's
Ecstasy is manufactured, people and government alike treat its use as a
fact of the cultural landscape. "It's everywhere," said Monique, 30, a
waitress who began using it a decade ago. "I come from a really small
village, and it was there," she said, asking that her full name not be
used. "At house parties, it's still around, definitely." For years, Holland
has taken what may be the industrial world's most tolerant approach to drug
use. Amsterdam is dotted with "smoking shops," establishments where people
can buy small amounts of marijuana and hashish without fear of prosecution.
Officials have extended this tolerance to Ecstasy, and take what they call
a pragmatic view that, whether society likes it or not, a certain number of
people are going to use the drug, so the risks should be minimized. Here,
partygoers can take their Ecstasy pills to a drug treatment center to have
them tested and analyzed. The pill is then handed back. If the technicians
cannot immediately determine the content of a pill, they offer to send it
to a laboratory for further tests. That's not a problem for most users,
because they tend to buy their pills in batches of five or six.

Upon completion of the test, "we give them a card telling them what they
can expect if they take this pill," said Harold Wychgel, a Health Ministry
spokesman. The pill-testing program serves another purpose, he said: It
gives the government accurate and up-to-date data on what pills are on the
market and how prevalent the use is, as well as a profile of the users.

The government has also issued a white paper laying out rules for the
underground parties, or "raves," where Ecstasy use is prevalent. For
example, party sites must be well ventilated and there must be plenty of
free water available, to prevent e-users from becoming dehydrated through
all-night dancing. There must also be a "chill-out" room, a cool and quiet
place where "ravers" can sit peacefully to calm down.

Officials also say their strategy of tolerating use should not be
interpreted by their American counterparts as tolerating trafficking and
manufacturing. Ecstasy remains illegal in Holland and is classified as a
hard drug, like heroin and cocaine. Authorities make war on production
sites. In the past year they have dismantled 35, said Peter Reijnders, who
heads the Synthetic Drugs Unit, a multiagency group created in 1997 that
includes customs agents, police, tax enforcers and public prosecutors.

"The Netherlands is a main producer of Ecstasy," Reijnders said. "But the
Netherlands is not the only producing country. We see more and more
production coming up in other Western countries, Belgium and Greece, and
also in Eastern Europe. . . . That is why it is important to put emphasis
on international cooperation."