FREE WORKSHOP ON ECSTASY USE OFFERED IN BLAUVELT TO PARENTS

A drug-rehabilitation program is beginning a series of public
educational workshops, with one highlighting the club drug Ecstasy
and what parents need to know.

Daytop, which stands for Drug Addicts Yielding to Persuasion, is
offering the free program at 7 p.m. April 17 at its facility at 620
Route 303 in Blauvelt. Daytop is the oldest and largest nonprofit
drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation program in the United States, with
25 centers around the country treating adults and teens.

"We'll be giving the facts behind the newest plague in our nation,"
said Jack Teigman, chairman of the Daytop Family Association. "It
fries your brain. It makes marijuana look like aspirin."

Ecstasy is "worse than anything that's out there" in its
attractiveness to teens and young adults and its deadliness, Teigman
said.

Ecstasy, the common name for methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA,
is a stimulant with hallucinogenic properties, said state Police
Capt. Joseph A. Tripodo, director of the Rockland County Narcotics
Task Force.

The drug was created in 1912 as an appetite suppressant, was used for
years as a psychoanalytic drug and began to gain a popular following
as a European club drug about 10 years ago. Police started seeing its
use in Rockland about three years ago, although the majority of
people who use the drug get it at New York City clubs.

Considered a "designer drug," Ecstasy is not as popular in Rockland
as alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, but local police departments have
noticed an increase in use, especially among high school students.

It gives its users a sense of happiness, alertness and the feeling of
euphoria, Tripodo said. It breaks down inhibitions, and its stimulant
properties enable users to dance for days. The drug also
short-circuits the body's awareness of internal temperature, so users
often suffer from dehydration and overheating -- conditions that can
cause permanent brain damage.

It appeals most to middle-class and upper-middle-class white people,
and users generally range from 15 to the mid-20s, he said. Ecstasy is
normally found in pill form.

"The kids are definitely aware of it," Tripodo said. "It's
well-known. Because it's not injected or smoked, there's a false
sense that it's OK. It's not addicting in the way narcotics are
addicting, but you will develop a tolerance to it. Studies show it
causes long-term damage to thought and memory portions of your brain.
It's an extremely bad synthetic drug."

The guest speaker at the workshop will be Scott Finkelstein, director
of Daytop Westchester. The workshop will provide information on
Ecstasy, its effects, warning signs of its use and where to go for
help if you suspect a family member is using the drug. Yolanda White,
who has children in the East Ramapo schools, said the parents she
knew were unfamiliar with Ecstasy. "I haven't heard that much about
it, to be honest," White said. "I think parents would be interested
in this."

Bryan Burrell, president of the Nyack Board of Education and the
Rockland County School Boards Association, said a workshop on Ecstasy
was "absolutely essential in a day and age when young people are
experimenting with this."

"The use has skyrocketed," he said. "Parents have to have an area of
reference and understanding of how important it is in order to be
able to help their kids."

For information about Daytop Village, the upcoming workshop and other
workshops, call Teigman at 718-389-2700 or 634-3170.