POLICE OPEN EYES TO 'LOVE HUG' DRUG

Kids And Their Parents Get A Quick Lesson On The Hottest Teen Narcotics.

MARSTONS MILLS - The last thing Jerry Britt expects to get from a person he
has under arrest is a request for a hug.

But that's what he's gotten from a person "rolling" under the influence of
the "love hug" drug, Ecstasy.

The amphetamine, which heightens tactile senses, was the topic of a seminar
at Barnstable Middle School last night attended by about 50 parents and kids.

Britt, a Yarmouth police officer, joined Barnstable detective Mark Delaney
in telling the audience that information on Ecstasy and other designer
drugs will empower kids and make them able to resist peer pressure to take
the drugs.

"Ecstasy is now the drug of choice over marijuana and alcohol," Delaney
said. "We're finding out that the kids making these decisions are not fully
aware of the health issues involved. In order to combat, we have to
understand."

Designer drugs such as Ecstasy, GHB, GBL and ketamine have been found on
Cape Cod and are available to kids, Delaney said.

Last February, an 18-year-old Uxbridge woman died of an overdose of a
combination of those drugs and alcohol in a Hyannis motel. Delaney and
Britt highlighted the history of the drugs and described symptoms of people
on the drugs so parents could be more aware.

First developed in Germany in the early 1900s, Ecstasy was used as an
appetite suppressant. It was given to soldiers fighting in the trenches of
World War I because it suppressed appetite, thirst and sleep desires. Today
there is no medical use for it.

It is manufactured mostly in Western Europe into pills that resemble the
Altoids breath mints, Delaney said. In the United States the pills sell for
$20 to $30 apiece.

Ecstasy is known as a party drug that produces an extended high. It is
popular at techno dance parties or "raves," Delaney said.

"We've had them right here in Barnstable," he said. "These predators go
there to sell their wares."

When taken, the drug produces a high within an hour and that high, called
"rolling," will continue for three to five hours. The drug stimulates the
release of dopamine and seratonin in the brain.

After that time, the person who has taken the drug will become depressed.
Often, people will seek out other designer drugs such as ketamine to boost
their system back to what it was on Ecstasy.

Britt warned the audience of a Web site, www.dancesafe.org, devoted to
convincing kids that Ecstasy and other designer drugs are safe to use in
certain contexts.

Barnstable Middle School principal Edie LaBran has banned certain items
from the school that are associated with drug use - particularly Altoid
containers and baby pacifiers, which are used by Ecstasy users to chew on
when they are rolling, said LaBran, who has a son in Barnstable High School.

She first heard of Ecstasy at a similar seminar at the high school last
fall, LaBran said.

"It gave me huge food for conversation with my son," she said. "It
heightened my awareness."

Ed Yargeau and Nancy Brunswick, both teachers in the Barnstable school
system, brought their kids to the seminar last night.

"It concerns us a lot," Brunswick said. "We want to make sure our kids are
equipped."

Her son, fifth-grader Steven Kilmurray, said he learned that if drugs are
in Gatorade when you shake it, the liquid will foam up.

"People try to mistake drugs for candy," he added.

Yargeau said he was impressed with the good information at the seminar.

"You can't have too much information when it comes to this," he said.