2ND ECSTASY VICTIM "COULD HAVE DIED"

Feb. 13, 2001 - The 15-year-old Highlands Ranch High School student who
became critically ill after taking Ecstasy at a rave had used the drug
before, doctors said Monday. But it took only one bad time to nearly kill her.

"I think she could have died from this," said Ken Kulig, a toxicologist at
Littleton Adventist Hospital, where the girl was treated. "I think had she
not come into the hospital and received the aggressive treatment that she
did, she could have very easily died."

The girl was released from the hospital on Monday. That ended a hellish two
days in which doctors worked feverishly to save her life.

When she arrived at the hospital around noon on Saturday, she was swinging
so violently between combative and unresponsive states that doctors had to
sedate her into a near-coma so she would stay hooked to her ventilator,
pediatrician Frank Martorano said.

Doctors said the girl took as many as three Ecstasy "Red Bull" pills at a
rave party Friday night in Boulder.

Lee Klinger, owner of Dance West, the Pearl Street club where the Friday
party was held, said Monday he is shutting its doors to that type of
entertainment.

At Littleton Adventist, doctors kept the girl sedated for nearly a day.
During that time they performed CAT scans to make sure her brain wasn't
swelling. When she would wake, they would ask her questions and then sedate
her again.

Martorano said the girl said very little to him when doctors took her off
heavy sedation Sunday afternoon. He said he expressed concern for her
emotional health. Martorano said the girl likely will undergo counseling.

Police said Monday that the tablets the 15-year-old ingested were different
than the Ecstasy consumed by Monarch High School student Brittney Chambers,
who took the designer drug at her 16th birthday party in Superior on Jan.
27, lapsed into a coma and died six days later.

Tests are being conducted to confirm the pills she took were Ecstasy or
other drugs, said Lt. Jim Smith, who heads the Boulder County Drug Task Force.

A friend of the 15-year-old may soon be charged with giving her the three
tablets, Smith said. The suspect, he said, is not a flight risk.

Investigators also are working to find out who supplied the pills to the
boy, Smith said.

Kulig said doctors have known about the dangers of Ecstasy since 1985, but
that in the last two years, hospitals have seen an increase in the number
of serious

Kulig complications caused by Ecstasy. He estimated Denverarea hospitals
see 15 to 20 serious Ecstasy cases a year.

"This particular drug rots the brain," he said.

Ecstasy causes users to feel a sense of euphoria and have extreme amounts
of energy. It also causes a feeling of excessive thirst and causes the body
to secrete an antidiuretic.

That's a problem.

Users typically drink large amounts of water, but with no way to flush that
water, the body's salt content gets critically diluted. That condition,
called hyponatremia, can l cause brain swelling, which led to Brittney's death.

"I hope this case and the Brittney Chambers case would alert teens that
this is a very dangerous thing to do," Kulig said.

At Highlands Ranch High School, teachers will hold discussions with all
students today on the dangers of Ecstasy. This incident presents a
"teachable moment," school officials said in a news release.

The school also will host an informational program for parents and others
in the community from 7-8:30 p.m. Feb. 21.