STATE MOVES TO COMBAT PARTY DRUG

Most users of ecstasy are said to be between 12 and 24 years old.

Authorities are gearing up to fight the youth party drug, ecstasy, fearing
that its use is poised to skyrocket in Iowa.

A six-state task force that combats methamphetamine is shifting its focus
to include club drugs, such as ecstasy, U.S. Attorney Stephen Rapp of Cedar
Rapids said Thursday.

Bruce Upchurch, Iowa"s drug policy coordinator, said drug informants and
young people increasingly report encountering ecstasy around the state.

"We have reports from the street that it's here," Upchurch said. "We're
trying to get ahead of the curve instead of getting caught like we did with
methamphetamine."

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has ecstasy investigations
under way in Iowa, and Des Moines narcotics officers are increasing their
emphasis on the drug.

Authorities are particularly concerned that most users are young, between
12 and 24 years old.

Ecstasy is often sold at dance parties, some of which are billed as
alcohol-free.

Also known as X and MDMA, ecstasy is sold in capsules or tablets and acts
as a stimulant and mild hallucinogen. Dealers portray the drug as harmless,
but medical researchers say ecstasy can cause brain damage, strokes,
seizures, heart or kidney failure, and even death.

Law enforcement officials face three hurdles in combating ecstasy:

* Police drug dogs are not trained to react to ecstasy.

* Its pill form makes the drug easy to hide.

* Authorities have trouble investigating ecstasy cases because they lack
the young informants needed to gather evidence.

Upchurch said ecstasy can be easily hidden in any sort of pill container.

"The pill form is always a problem in terms of detection in enforcement,"
he said.

Rapp, who became chairman of the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area last week, said that although federal, state and local law enforcement
agencies have prosecuted few club drug cases in Iowa, the drugs pose a very
real and increasing threat.

Ecstasy's growing popularity is most evident to drug treatment counselors,
Rapp said.

Fonda Frazier, clinical director at the Iowa City-based Mideastern Council
on Chemical Abuse, said a few clients in the past year mentioned having
experimented with ecstasy, although it was not their drug of choice.

According to a survey of more than 7,000 teen-agers in seventh through 12th
grades in the United States by the Partnership for Drug Free America, 10
percent tried ecstasy at least once in 2000. At least 5 percent of Iowa's
teen-agers have tried the drug once, according to the survey.

Lt. Clarence Jobe, head of the vice unit for Des Moines police, said:
"We're hearing a lot about it, but we're not seeing it."

In the past seven months, Des Moines police have made one ecstasy-related
arrest; Ankeny police also have made one. A central Iowa drug task force
made two arrests in Ames.

Jobe disagreed that police are missing ecstasy because of its pill form. He
said the more a drug is around, the more arrests police make. Jobe said
impostor versions of the drug, made primarily from ephedrine or caffeine,
give the bogus impression that ecstasy is mild. It also makes it hard to
know how much real ecstasy is in the area, he said.

Authorities believe ecstasy is popular at all-night parties called raves.
Raves' locations often are not announced until a few hours beforehand.

Mark Hein, resident-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Des
Moines, said he suspects the last-minute announcement is a way to sidestep
law enforcement.

James Marshall, owner of Synonymous Entertainment, which has sponsored
raves in central Iowa, said the last-minute announcement is just the
product of poor planning. Marshall said many times organizers are young and
lack a venue.

He said raves are "not about drugs" and every attendee is searched at the
door at his group's events. Pockets are emptied and purses are searched. If
any ecstasy is found, police are called, he said.

Hein said ecstasy investigations are under way but would not elaborate.

Ecstasy is not the harmless drug it's portrayed to be, Hein said. It can be
deadly, damaging and can lead to casual, unsafe sex, he said.

"It may take them down a road they might not want to go down," Hein said,
"and keep them from becoming who they want to become."