PENALTY FOR PEDDLING ECSTASY BOOSTED

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ecstasy, a drug once used primarily at nightclubs, has
expanded beyond the club scene and is being sold at high schools, on the
street and even at coffee shops, the White House drug policy office said
Wednesday.

The availability of ecstasy increased dramatically, and more blacks and
Latinos are using the drug, the agency said in its biannual report on drug
trends.

The ecstasy problem prompted the U.S. Sentencing Commission to enhance
guideline penalties Tuesday for those peddling large quantities of the drug.

Under temporary new guidelines, local distributors -- those caught selling
800 pills or more -- would be sentenced to more than 6 years in jail,
triple the prison time under previous guidelines.

Defense lawyers said the change makes ecstasy, on a per-dose basis, five
times more serious to possess or sell than heroin and is excessive for a
drug that is neither as harmful nor as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

But the chairwoman of the commission told senators Wednesday at a hearing
on narcotics that ecstasy has serious and possibly long-term harmful affects.