GUIDELINES STIFFENED FOR SELLING ECSTASY

WASHINGTON - 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 in some cities, the White House drug policy
office said Wednesday.

The availability of ecstasy increased dramatically, and more blacks and
Hispanics are using the drug, the agency said in its biannual report that
chronicles trends in drug use.

The ecstasy problem prompted the U.S. Sentencing Commission to enhance
guideline penalties Tuesday for those peddling large quantities of the
drug, which sells for $10 to $45 per pill on the street.

Under temporary new guidelines, which federal judges must follow, people
the commission would consider local distributors - those caught selling 800
pills - would be sentenced to more than 6 years in jail. That's triple the
time they would have gotten under previous guidelines.

The commission was responding to a congressional mandate to stiffen
penalties for ecstasy trafficking.

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. Some
medical researchers also opposed the new guidelines.

"This is a wholly political act, not one based on scientific evidence,"
said Edward Mallett, president of the National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers.

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

"We have learned that ecstasy has unique pharmacological effects,
physiological risks, user profiles, collateral consequences and trafficking
patterns that make comparing ecstasy to other drugs of abuse very
difficult," Diana Murphy, commission chairwoman, said in a statement before
the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

Ecstasy's chemical name is methylenedioxymethylamphetamine, or MDMA. A user
normally experiences feelings of euphoria and increased desire to interact
socially. Blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature increase
dramatically.

While overall teen-age drug use has either fallen or stayed the same in
recent years, ecstasy use has climbed. The White House report, presented at
the hearing, showed that more than 80 percent of officials surveyed in 20
cities around the country said ecstasy was more available than ever.

Nightclubs and dance parties known as "raves" are the most common venue for
using ecstasy, but law enforcement, epidemiologists and drug treatment
providers reported that the drug also was being sold at private parties,
college campuses, high schools and on the street.

In New York, officials reported sales of ecstasy and other "club drugs" in
shopping malls. In Washington, ecstasy was being sold in coffee shops, the
report said.

"Use is no longer confined to the rave scene," said Dr. Donald Vereen,
deputy director of the drug policy office. "We cannot afford to ignore
these warning signals about the dangers of MDMD use."

The new guidelines recommend sentences of between 63 months to 78 months
for first-time offenders caught selling 800 pills. The sentence used to be
15 months to 21 months for that number.

The guidelines are effective for six months starting May 1. The commission,
an independent federal agency that sets national sentencing policy, can
submit a permanent rule to Congress in May.