THE BATTLE AGAINST ECSTASY

In recent days the police raided a number of clubs throughout the
country where, according to detectives, the drug ecstasy is sold and
used. The police stepped up their activities following the death of
at least four young people in recent months as a result of using the
drug. Despite the angry responses of the club owners, the police
operations are appropriate. The damage caused, especially to young
people, justifies the special attention given to the problem by the
law enforcement authorities.

The fight against the consumption of illegal drugs runs into
difficulties throughout the world.

U.S. authorities have recently expressed concern that the massive
effort to combat drug use there, involving enormous budget and
manpower allocations, is threatened with failure.

In Israel also, the argument is heard that the struggle against drug
use is complicated; the promise of an exceptional experience inherent
in the use of drugs makes their appeal particularly difficult to
combat.

The advocates of ecstasy present as supporting evidence the
relatively small number of victims of the drug. The owners of the
clubs raided by the police argue that they cannot prevent the trade
of ecstasy in their establishments or in the environs.

The owners accuse the police of threatening that if they do not help
in the battle against the drug, legal pressures will be brought to
bear via minor violations to which the police normally choose to turn
a blind eye. These arguments are not sufficiently significant to
deflect from the need to prevent, to the greatest extent possible,
the use of the dangerous drug.

The substance used in the drug was first introduced at the turn of
the past century as a psychiatric drug, and is still used today for
psychiatric treatment. However, this form of use is controlled.
Unsupervised use of ecstasy, which is produced without any controls,
exposes young people to effects many of them are unable to deal with.
There is no room for a so-called liberal approach that calls for the
freedom of choice and of the benefits in a pill of ecstasy.

The attitude to ecstasy in this country must take into account its
impact on its consumers, which could be very severe. On the basis of
this assumption, the police are right to act forcefully, even if the
results of their activities are only partially effective.

An important component of the battle against drugs, albeit restricted
in its effectiveness, is an intensive public relations campaign.

The prevention of the spread of the drug use is a task which the
schools must also undertake with determination. One should not
tolerate a situation in which, according to many witnesses, the
schools have become fertile ground for drug trafficking. School
administrators cannot wash their hands of the problem, the way the
club owners seem to be doing; the school officials must undertake
severe measures.

Parents do not send their children to clubs, but they do send them to
school in the belief that the institution is capable of keeping
delinquency outside its gates.

Ecstasy has developed great appeal in recent years.

The justification for combating it, articulated this week by the
police commander of Tel Aviv's Yarkon District, overrides all other
arguments in favor of the drug. "I do not want to find a body in a
parking lot and find out that this young person died after having
taken an ecstasy pill at a club," said commander Uri Bar-Lev.