IOWANS FEAR DRUG IS AT NEW HIGH

It's 11:15 on a Thursday night at the Garden, one of Des Moines' dance
clubs. Sexy pop music pulses from the sound system. A blue haze radiates
from the cooler. Multi-colored condoms sit in a beer pitcher at the crowded
bar, ready for purchase.

If Landon Heck wanted to make the party more intense, the 21-year-old said
he would have little problem scoring the small pastel pills that have
become so popular at dance clubs across America.

Ecstasy, the illegal hallucinogen, is easier to find these days in Des
Moines and other big cities across Iowa, Heck and other club-goers say.

"It's here, and it's bad that it's here," Heck said. "It's very scary. I
tried it once four years ago, and it was very icky. It disorients you."

Iowa authorities say ecstasy use is increasing across the state, and not
just at the after-hours parties and "raves" that originally made the drug
so popular. Over the past two years, state drug leaders have tried to
heighten awareness about the drug's dangers while intensifying the search
for big shipments from outside the state.

While state narcotics teams have had some luck finding the drug, others say
they believe its use is not as widespread as first feared.

"We haven't seen it," said Des Moines police Sgt. Bruce Elrod, who recalls
few ecstasy arrests in the capital city. "You'd think if it were out there,
officers would find it somewhere - even on accident."

Rick LaMere, a resident agent in charge for the federal Drug Enforcement
Agency, said drug agents closely monitored a recent Cedar Rapids rave that
drew more than 800 young adults and teen-agers. No ecstasy arrests were
made, and no drugs were seized. Yet, he says, he is convinced the drug is
out there.

"If you can cram 800 people into a place, you've got a ready market for
drugs," he said.

"Also, tastes have changed. And if I'm a dealer, and I know a lot of effort
is being put into methamphetamine cases, then I'm going to sell something
else."

Ecstasy is a different kind of drug than methamphetamine, cocaine or
marijuana, which may be one reason it remains low profile, state drug
experts say.

Though potentially dangerous, the drug is not as addictive as
methamphetamine nor as volatile. Drug treatment centers across the state
report few admissions for ecstasy use.

In addition, the pills do not carry the same stigma as drugs that are
snorted or injected. Also called MDMA, they are widely viewed as a
relatively inexpensive mood-enhancer, causing feelings or euphoria and,
sometimes, arousal.

Until recently, the drug was also considered a white, suburban phenomenon,
spreading from hand to hand at parties where more affluent youths got
together. The drug has had little appeal among older adults, unlike meth or
cocaine.

Recently, though, ecstasy has made inroads among youths of color, local
black leaders say.

Kittie Weston-Knauer, principal at Scavo Campus, Imam Ako Abdul-Samad, a
nonprofit director in Des Moines' central city, and the Rev. David Reasby,
who closely monitors the activities of near north-side youth, have all
noticed more chatter about the drug.

Said Weston-Knauer: "I fear this is going to be worse than meth or crack."

Doctors still do not know many of the long-term effects of ecstasy use.
Some side effects include chest pain, liver damage, panic attacks,
depression, even death.

Nationwide, federal customs agents last year seized more than 9 million
tablets. The compact size of the tablets, however, makes the drug easy to
conceal.

Heck said police are likely having a hard time finding the drug because
they don't know yet how to find it. "They know what a person looks like
when they're stoned. They know what people look like when they're drunk,
but how do you know what a person looks like on ecstasy?"

Dan Voogt, bureau chief of the Polk County attorney's drug-and-gang unit,
agreed. "Based on the cases we have filed and my conversations with
investigators, I think it is thick in the suburbs," he said. "One of my
biggest concerns is that people in the community don't believe it."