AIRING IDEAS ON ECSTASY

SAN FRANCISCO -- An electric orange sunset filled the darkening desert sky
as steady house beats and a woman's whispers became increasingly louder.
The open landscape revealed a mass gathering of people slowly gearing up to
dance.

No, this was not a southern California dance party. It was a slide show at
Friday's The State of Ecstasy Conference sponsored by The Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation.

More than 300 scientists, policy experts and health care professionals
gathered in a first-of-its-kind conference to explore common-sense drug
policies regarding ecstasy, or MDMA as scientists call it.

The musical and pictorial presentation put on by Dustianne North, a Ph.D.
candidate in social welfare at UCLA, may have seemed a bit dramatic for a
group of mostly scientists and health care professionals. But North, a
veteran of the rave scene, dispelled media hype about dance culture and how
ecstasy plays into that culture.

"Rave and dance culture has been misconstrued because of drug war
policies," she said. Her presentation emphasized that dance culture did not
encourage ecstasy use and abuse, but instead sought to foster community.
"Our culture is demonized in the media, but our music is used to sell cars
and designer clothes to teens."

In recent months, ecstasy has been associated with freaky all night parties
and teenagers dying from overdoses. According to Monitoring the Future, an
organization that studies youth behavior, overall use of ecstasy among
young people has increased in the past year.

But last year, nine deaths thought to be caused from ecstasy were actually
caused by toxic look-alike pills containing other chemicals. According to
the Drug Abuse Warning Network, there have been 27 MDMA-related deaths in
the United States in the period from 1994 to 1998.

MDMA was created by Merck Pharmaceutical company in 1912, and then
rediscovered in the late 1970s by Dr. Sasha Shulgin, a Bay area chemist and
researcher.

Because of its ability to induce empathetic feelings, the drug was used in
psychotherapy among medical professionals.In the early 1980s the drug was
dubbed ecstasy and aggressively marketed to club-goers. In 1985, the drug
was made illegal and classified as Schedule I, meaning that it could no
longer be used for medical purposes.

Conference speakers emphasized that research on the drug has not been
possible because of its Schedule I classification. Dr. Charles Grob,
director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical center
emphasized that research needs to be done not only because it is a valuable
tool for psychiatrists in therapy, but because so many young people are
using it.

"Often, when kids are taking ecstasy, they are not sure of what they are
taking--it worries me that so many young people are putting themselves in a
position of unnecessary risk," he said. "Reputable institutions canit get
this stuff to study it, which is ridiculous."

Some people have already taken their own measures to protect young people
from unsafe ecstasy look-alikes. DanceSafe is a peer education group that
tests ecstasy pills at raves to make sure they are MDMA and not other
substances. Emanuel Sferios, the president, emphasized that just-say-no
drug policies are not working, and that young people need to know the truth
about drugs.

"We know that 30 years of drug policies have failed. Harm reduction, or
educating users on how to properly use drugs is a much better way of
keeping young people safe," he said.

Sferios and North said that unregulated night clubs and party promoters
looking to just make quick money are part of the problem because they allow
a host of ecstasy look-alike pills to be sold at parties.

"The U.S. is the only country in the Western world that does not have a
regulated night club industry. Clubs should be regulated so promoters have
to find safe places for parties and kids," said Sferios.

Dr. Grob and Dr. George Ricaurte, a researcher at John Hopkins University,
presented opposing research on the possible long-term effects of ecstasy use.

According to Ricaurte, "The emerging evidence suggests that MDMA produces
long-term effects on humans and there is good evidence that it damages the
brain. We need to confirm and further expose these studies."

But Grob disagreed, saying that much more research needs to be done.

Most of the conference speakers were proponents of allowing more studies on
the drug. But things only seem to be getting more difficult. The U.S
Sentencing Commission recently proposed stiffer penalties for ecstasy
possession.

Under the current laws, possession of one gram would be equated with 35
grams of marijuana. The new law would equate it with 1,000 grams of
marijuana. They are seeking public comment on this proposal until Monday.

The emphasis here was on education and more information. Robert Akeley, a
Bay area psychiatrist and conference attendee was glad that he could come
here and learn the facts for himself.

"I came here because I have a young cousin in the rave scene -- I was
fearful about the effects of ecstasy, but coming here and listening to this
remarkable collection of people speak has dispelled some of these myths for
me," he said.

This unusual mix of the young and old, ultra-hip and not so hip, scientist
and concerned parent ultimately came to here to do something that is not
allowed in the mainstream culture: hold an open, honest debate about U.S.
drug policies and where they have gone wrong.

"We want to work toward finding more common-sense drug policies that take
science, human rights, and public health into account," said Dr. Ethan
Nadelman, who founded the Lindesmith Center in 1994. "The government is
completely stuck on both sides in this highly politicized issue."