SENTENCING GUIDELINES TOUGHENED FOR ECSTASY

Taking emergency action, the U.S. Sentencing Commission yesterday sharply
increased the guideline penalties for selling the party drug ecstasy.
Beginning May 1, the punishment for importing or selling the "hug drug"
will be more severe than for peddling powder cocaine.

The new sentencing guidelines to be followed by federal judges will roughly
triple the likely prison term for sale of 200 grams of ecstasy -- about 800
pills -- from 15 months to five years. The penalty for sale of 8,000 pills
will rise from 41 months to 120 months.

Advocates of higher penalties, including the Justice Department, contend
the punishment is needed to curb the dramatic increase in the drug's use in
recent years, particularly among teenagers and young adults. They say the
federal law is targeted at manufacturers, importers and dealers, not
adolescents at rave parties.

Opponents told the commission that ecstasy is not as addictive or
destructive as the opiates and hallucinogens that have inspired similarly
long sentences. Several medical researchers challenged studies that
indicated a link to long-term physiological harm, arguing that ecstasy is
far less dangerous than heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine.

A group of leading neuroscientists and drug policy specialists operating
under the umbrella of the Federation of American Scientists this week
criticized proposed sentencing guidelines as "grossly disproportionate" to
the dangers presented by ecstasy. While stating that abuse of the drug
poses risks, the group said there was "no justification" in terms of policy
or pharmacology for an increase in punishment.

Ecstasy is a stimulant combined with a mild hallucinogen, and is typically
sold for $20 to $40 in tablets that weigh a quarter-gram. Hundreds of
thousands of high school students use the drug on an average weekend,
studies suggest.

- -- Peter Slevin