NEW DRUG HITS HOME

'Ecstasy' Is More And More Popular Among Local High School Teenagers

Although marijuana remains the illicit drug of choice among teen-agers, a
breed of designer drug is quickly creeping into weekend parties and local
high school hallways.

They call it "e" or "x" for short, and most teen-agers will tell you that
it isn't hard to get. And while drug use among teen-agers is stagnant or
declining in many areas, one drug - known as "ecstasy" - is showing a sharp
rise that's expected to peak in the next few years.

Pioneer High sophomore Aaron Savit figures teens enjoy the "empathetic
feeling" caused by ecstasy. His friend, senior Pat Ford, says perhaps it's
popular since it's fairly new. After all, marijuana - although still the
biggest sell - isn't the freshest thing on the market, they say.

"It's pretty easy to get, but it isn't always pure," Savit said. "I know a
fair amount of people who do it. There're always a few people who do drugs
to excess, but most have it under control."

"E" has been talked about at Pioneer High for the last few years, students
say. But at neighboring Saline High, it appears to have hit the student
population just within the last year, said Mark Schuby, student assistance
coordinator for the district.

"Mainly we're still seeing the alcohol and marijuana, but there's more use
of the designer drugs," Schuby said. "Ecstasy is on the rise, but about
nine out of every 10 kids don't even know what it is that they're taking or
buying. There's so much misinformation out there that most people don't
know the real deal."

Ecstasy, a central nervous system stimulant, became a popular drug at raves
in the early 1980s and is becoming more mainstream among teen-agers and
college students, police say. It's most common in an aspirin-sized pill
form, ranging in cost from $10 to $30.

The drug can create a feeling of euphoria. But it can also cause
nervousness, hyperexcitability, rapid heartbeat, teeth grinding, scratching
or rubbing skin, dizziness, loss of consciousness, eye twitching, panic
attacks, muscle cramping and seizures.

The long-term effects of ecstasy are now being tested and could include
damage to the parts of the brain critical to thought and memory, according
to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In monkeys, exposure to ecstasy
for four days caused brain damage that was evident six to seven years
later, a NIDA study says.

Pioneer High senior Dan Leonard said he believes ecstasy is a social drug.
"It's the trendy drug," he said. "Some kids think a party just isn't a
party without 'e.' Last year I heard about kids doing it before school
because the high lasts so long."

The drug is being closely tracked now by police, researchers, school
officials and substance-abuse professionals. In the annual Monitoring the
Future drug-use study conducted by University of Michigan researchers,
ecstasy use rose among all the grade levels studied. At the high end, 11
percent of high school seniors have tried ecstasy, the study says. More
than half of the 45,000 high school seniors surveyed last year said getting
ecstasy would be easy.

And unlike the previous study, ecstasy is now being used by eighth-graders,
said Lloyd Johnston, the lead investigator on the study.

"We've seen no evidence yet of a turnaround," Johnston said. "As we
predicted, it's diffused out from the urban areas and is going down in age.
It's the most rapidly-changing drug that we've seen moving in an upward
direction in the last few years. Inevitably, when there's a new drug or one
is rediscovered, it enjoys a honeymoon period when people aren't yet aware
of the consequences."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the bad news catches up soon and it starts to
decline in the next few years."

Undercover officers with the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement
Team are seeing more of it these days. Less than three months ago, police
confiscated 1,800 ecstasy pills valued at $45,000 from a 29-year-old who
was walking in Ypsilanti Township. Possession of a controlled substance
like ecstasy is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

Ron Harrison, a social worker with a private practice in Ann Arbor
specializing in treating teens with substance-abuse problems, said he has
watched many drug trends over the last 19 years - including the newest
designer drugs. He said talk of ecstasy surfaced among patients in his
office more than a year ago. Now, he's seeing more and more teens who have
tried it.

"What I'm seeing in my office is consistent with what's happening in the
nation. Ecstasy is now part of the package of drugs that are available, and
any teen-agers who are prone to drugs would wonder about the new drug on
the scene," Harrison said.

Timothy and Jill Kotyuk are the parents of teen-age daughters and believe
the key to addressing drug use - be it marijuana, ecstasy or alcohol - is
to talk about the problem. They did just that during a recent meeting of
the parent-teacher-student organization at Huron High School focusing on
teen-agers and drug use.

Their talk highlighted a personal incident, when their 16-year-old daughter
had friends over when they were out of town last fall and the party turned
unruly. When it was all over, police had ticketed their daughter for
underage drinking and teens caused more than $8,000 in damage to their
home. They're still finding beer cans in the bushes.

Jill Kotyuk said they discussed ecstasy with their children after their
daughter said girls attending a high school dance showed up with pacifiers
around their necks - a sign of ecstasy use, since the drug causes
involuntary teeth clenching. Other signs of ecstasy use include an
abundance of energy, sweaty and deep breathing, hugging and touching
behavior and lip biting, police say.

"It's scary for me how accessible alcohol and other drugs seem to be,"
Timothy Kotyuk said.

Jill Kotyuk said she thinks parents need to work together and become
educated about all the drugs on the market. She recently attended a forum
on designer drugs in Saline and brought her teen-agers along.

"I expect that my kids will take risks and won't be perfect, but they need
to understand the consequences," she said. "Now that Baby Boomers are
parents, kids are saying, 'Well, didn't you do it?' I tell them that I've
made mistakes and learned, and that doesn't make it acceptable for them."

In addition to the recent forums on teen-age drug use, there's a local push
to create a residential treatment program for adolescents and bring more
drug education into the schools.

The board of directors at Dawn Farm, a residential treatment program that
serves anyone age 17 and up, recently discussed adding the first county
program for youths, said James Balmer, president of the organization.

Ann Arbor resident Bradley Spencer heads the Safe and Drug-Free School
Advisory Committee, which is lobbying for prevention programs for all grade
levels and substance abuse counselors in the high schools. Spencer, a
retired teacher, became involved in 1979 after two of his students died in
drug-related auto crashes.

"It's troubling now to hear the experiences with ecstasy. I think we need
to create a community awareness about the extent of drug use in
teen-agers," Spencer said. "It comes down to the fact that I don't think
students are getting the message about the dangers of drugs. We need to
focus on putting a prevention network that was once in place back in place
in the schools."