SCHOOL CHIEFS ASSAILED FOR DRUG-ABUSE DENIAL

Many Monarch Students Use Ecstasy, Says Brother Of Boulder Girl Who Is
In Coma After Using Substance

BOULDER -- Monarch High officials are making a bad problem worse by
denying that students at the Louisville school abuse the drug Ecstasy,
the 17-year-old brother of Brittney Chambers said Wednesday.

Brittney, a Monarch ninth-grader last year, remains in critical
condition on life support after taking Ecstasy Saturday night during her
16th birthday party.

Preston Chambers said that "many Monarch High School students have
estimated to me that, at bare minimum, 50 percent of the students have
tried Ecstasy."

Those students face the same peril as his sister, he said.

"It truly is a dangerous thing. You could end up in the hospital, you
could end up dead, you could end up with brain damage."

Mack Clark, deputy superintendent of the Boulder Valley School District,
conceded Wednesday that the problem probably is larger than he had
estimated earlier this week, when he said the use of Ecstasy was not
prevalent at Monarch.

"Certainly, from the response we've received from the community, this is
an issue larger than the statistics we would have surrounding this
particular drug," he said.

"There has been a heightened interest from kids and the community about
drug availability and drug use, particularly with the drug Ecstasy. We
are quite concerned about that. The last thing we want to do is bury our
head in the sand."

Authorities expect to arrest at least some Monarch High students by the
end of the week for supplying the Ecstasy to Brittney Chambers, said
Detective Mike Linden of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.

Linden said "about half a dozen kids are involved, mostly kids who are
from the school."

The light-green, clover-shaped pill Brittney took was bought on campus,
Linden said.

Preston Chambers, conducting a press conference on his family's behalf
at Boulder Community Hospital, where his sister is in a coma, said
society must accept that Ecstasy is a reality for many students.

He said he did not believe it was the first time his sister had tried
Ecstasy, although she had told her mother in December it was "a stupid
drug," and said she would never do it.

"It's really up to the kids themselves," he said. "They need to realize
that it is a very dangerous thing to do."

The Chambers family would not comment on Brittney's condition or her
prospects of recovery. Preston Chambers, without specifying, said the
family is awaiting "further testing."

Authorities Wednesday backed away from earlier warnings that the Ecstasy
may have come from a tainted supply.

"It could have been because her chemical makeup, she had a bad reaction
to it," Linden said. "It could be because often, drugs like that, you
take them with another drug or alcohol. It's hard to say."

He said investigators have information that alcohol was present at the
party.

Preston Chambers said he has no "foul feelings" for the partygoers who
gave Brittney the Ecstasy.

Dealers, though, are another matter.

"Take a step back and think if the 20 bucks you got for this pill is
really worth this person's life," he said. "Can you maintain a good
conscience about selling something that's going to hurt people for 20
bucks?"