SOME TRUTH ABOUT ECSTASY

Years ago, I took ecstasy. I was in the midst of a "hypomanic" episode, the
energetic - not "happy" - phase of bipolar cycling.

An old friend came by with some "e," seeming to offer the possibility of
salvation from the relentless energy and voices gnashing at my body and mind.

I had never tried it. But I knew many people who had, including my brother
and his friends, as far back as the mid-1980s - at Boulder High School.

They said "e" inspired non-sexual feelings of warmth and love and left one
feeling optimistic about the world. No hallucinations, but you'd be up for
long hours. My days of experimentation were long over, but I decided to try it.

My "pusher" and I sat in a hot tub beneath a starry firmament, chattering
animatedly for hours. There were some funny moments, but I never felt the
warm-huggy sensation people report. Rather, it was exhausting, too much
like hypomania. Long before sunrise, I knew that "e" was not for me.

I've also been around others on "e." They can be appealing in their sudden,
loving earnestness: "You know, man, I really love you..." Flattering, and
perhaps there are grains of truth in their words, but it's the drug talking.

On Jan. 27, 16-year-old Brittney Chambers died, six days after taking
ecstasy. She did not overdose, but Boulder County Coroner John Meyer thinks
ecstasy was the first domino to fall in this tragedy.

Yet from the moment I heard about her death, I (and many others) had a
powerful gut feeling that ecstasy was not the final culprit. When this
column was first written in mid-week, I predicted that a final medical
report would show that something else - possibly even that she drank too
much water - actually caused Brittney's death.

Friday morning, Meyer affirmed my prediction: ecstasy in and of itself
didn't kill her - drinking too much water did.

I don't endorse anyone using drugs. But let's temper the misleading media
and parental hysteria about "e" after Brittney's tragic death.

Drugs, legal or illegal, can be dangerous. Advil can kill - so can drinking
too much water. One problem with illegal drugs is that they are not subject
to any kind of purity standards.

Yet even "pure" ecstasy can cause problems. It can elevate blood pressure,
impede the body's ability to regulate heat and cause irregular heartbeat.
Sometimes, users try to mitigate hyperthermia by drinking too much water,
which can cause brain swelling and death.

But in the short term, most who use the drug are OK. People who get drunk
are probably more at risk of death - car wrecks, alcohol poisoning, poor
judgment - than someone on "e."

Here, from one who has taken ecstasy - and would not again - are some
things to think about:

It's old hat. Boulder kids have been doing it for 20 years.

Lots of kids - though a minority - at every local school have used "e." But
it's more prevalent among privileged white kids

Like the '70s "panics" over LSD, parental freakout over ecstasy is
unwarranted. No drug is "safe," but "e" isn't a rampaging killer.

Most importantly, remember that most kids use ecstasy and other drugs (yes,
booze is a drug) because it's fun. Other things, from psychology to
biochemistry to peer pressure, matter, but fun is at the root of
non-addictive drug use.

So when parents talk to their kids about drugs, it's important that they
are honest - including the acknowledgment that humans turn to mind-altering
substances for "fun," and not just, as some hysterically claim, as a "cry
for help."

Because anything short of full disclosure - including about your own past
or present drug use, even that little nightcap - kids instantly will
perceive as hysterical nonsense. And once that happens, you might as well
not have said a word.