ECSTASY, WATER KILLED TEEN

Brittney Chambers died from drinking too much water after taking Ecstasy at
her 16th birthday party, the Boulder County coroner said Friday, ending
speculation about a tainted pill.

One week after Brittney was removed from life support, Coroner John Meyer
said the girl died of water intoxication, called hyponatremia.

After swallowing the drug the evening of Jan. 27 at her mother's Superior
home, she drank bottle after bottle of water, Meyer said. That flushed
sodium from her body and caused her brain to swell and lose oxygen.

If she hadn't taken in so much water, Meyer said, Brittney probably wouldn't
have died.

"But I want to be very clear. The underlying cause of death in this case is
MDMA, or Ecstasy," Meyer said. "Without the ingestion of this drug, there is
no reason to believe she would have been in this situation."

MDMA stands for methylenedioxymethamphetamine.

Meyer said it's nearly impossible to determine how much water she drank.
Four 16-ounce bottles were found with her in the bathroom, and each had been
refilled several times, he said.

Estimates vary on the amount of water required for water intoxication. It is
generally considered to be more than a gallon or two in a short period,
based on body weight. Meyer said no other drugs or alcohol were found in
Brittney's system.

Ecstasy - widely considered a safe and popular stimulant and psychedelic
drug by young people who frequent dance parties known as raves - can cause
problems in several ways, Meyer said.

It causes dehydration from an increased body temperature and physical
exertion, he said, so users often drink lots of water.

But Ecstasy causes the kidneys to retain water and produces an abnormal
sense of thirst. It also can cause compulsive behavior, further driving
users to drink water, Meyer said.

Brittney's death is the first directly caused by Ecstasy in Boulder County,
Meyer said. He said other coroners have told him they have yet to see an
Ecstasy-related death.

Adding salt to water or drinking sports drinks like Gatorade can help
prevent water intoxication.

Bruce Mendelson, a substance abuse researcher with the Colorado Department
of Human Services, said the case has prompted the state health department to
re-examine drug deaths for the past five years, looking for hyponatremia as
an underlying factor.

In 1999, four people died in Colorado from hyponatremia, he said. They all
were 50 or older and had medical problems. None of them had taken drugs.

A death like Brittney's, Mendelson said, is exceedingly rare.

"This is the only case I have heard of in Colorado where you have this
combination of an Ecstasy death that is related to water intoxication," he
said.

Brittney took a green, clovershaped Ecstasy pill four girlfriends bought for
her for $25 as a birthday gift. Her mother called 911 after she found her
vomiting, and Brittney slipped into a weeklong coma before being removed
from life support Feb. 2.

The four Monarch High School girls appeared in Boulder County court for the
first time Friday. They face charges of unlawful use and distribution of
Ecstasy, and of conspiracy.

Two adults have also been charged in Brittney's death. Travis Schuerger, 20,
and Rebecca Sheffield, 18, were arrested for allegedly selling the drug that
killed her. They each could face 12 to 48 years in prison.

A water-intoxication death widely reported in Great Britain is eerily
similar to Brittney's.

Leah Betts, a British teenager who took one tablet of Ecstasy at her 18th
birthday party, died in 1995 after drinking massive amounts of water.

Endurance athletes have long been cautioned against drinking too much water.

Kelly Barrett, a 43-year-old pediatric dentist from Littleton, died in
October 1998 after stopping a mile short of completing the Chicago Marathon.