POLICE SEIZE 2,000 ECSTASY PILLS

Three Men Arrested After Local Officials Follow Case To West Hollywood.

GLENDALE -- As the number of Ecstasy drug cases that Glendale Police
see continues to rise, the department's vice/narcotics unit recently
seized more than 2,000 of the small pills.

The illegal pills, which usually sell individually for about $20 at
parties and clubs, were worth about $40,000, police said.

Acting on a tip, investigators followed a 30-year-old Santa Monica
man Thursday afternoon to a West Hollywood intersection where another
car stopped, and one of its occupants got into the first car.

When he stepped out of the car, the man -- a 24-year-old Westminster
resident -- was carrying a plastic bag about the size of a football,
Investigator Bob Breckenridge said.

Inside the plastic bag were two bags of the Ecstasy pills, he said.

"They had little hearts etched into them," Breckenridge said, shaking his head.

The seizure is just short of the department's largest bust of the
pills, which netted 2,500.

The two men, as well as another Westminster man, were arrested on
suspicion of possession of the drugs for sale and transportation of
narcotics. They are scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles court on
Monday.

Ecstasy creates a feeling of euphoria but brings with it the danger
of overheating and dehydration, which can lead to strokes and death,
even in young people, officials said.

Two years ago, local police saw a handful of Ecstasy cases, but now
make arrests for possession almost every week, officials said.