'SEX DRUG' USE INCREASING IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Ecstasy has ridden recent popularity among high schoolers as a "sex drug"
to become one of the five most abused drugs in Montgomery County, a local
drug agent said Monday. Sgt. Sammie Sanders, a sheriff's deputy with the
19th Judicial District Drug Task Force, said agents first had contact with
the synthetic drug about a year ago.

But Ecstasy has gained popularity among teens in Montgomery County during
the past six or seven months, he said. The sergeant said the drug has
become prominent here because teens underestimate Ecstasy's dangers. "I
think the biggest problem we have seen, especially with the young people in
high schools, is someone has told them it's a sex drug," Sanders said.
"It's not."

Users say the drug heightens their sensitivity to touch, and they refer to
it as "the hug drug" or a "sex drug."

People often lace the pills with ephedrine, cocaine or heroin, he added.
"They can cut it with whatever they want," Sanders said. "It's on its way
to being a major problem here. It has taken the place of LSD, really."

Most of Clarksville's Ecstasy comes from Nashville, where the drug is
readily available, he said.

"A lot of choices young people make is through their friends or peers, and
they don't realize how dangerous their choices are," Sanders said. "Ecstasy
is extremely dangerous. Young people don't realize how dangerous it is. It
increases body temperature. It dehydrates. Young people die from dehydration."

Sanders said the most abused drugs in Montgomery County based on "what we
see day in and day out":

1. Cocaine, especially crack cocaine.

2. Pharmaceutical drugs.

3. Marijuana.

4. Ecstasy.

5. Methamphetamines.

He purposely omitted alcohol and tobacco from the list because they're
typically not illegally abused, except among youngsters.

Sanders also said most drug users don't limit their abuse to one drug.

"A lot of people smoke marijuana, but crack cocaine has such a hold in
Montgomery County, I don't see an end to it," he said.

Brian Dunn covers crime and safety.