THE AGONY OF 'ECSTASY'

Dance All Night -- And Be Stupid The Rest Of Your Life.

Amid the other disturbing news contained in the annual report issued by the
Office of National Drug Policy last week came an alarm about a drug that is
fast becoming a favorite among high school students. So while the effort to
turn people away from cocaine, crack and even marijuana is enjoying some
success, an equally insidious and dangerous substitute is supplanting it.

Here are excerpts from the report:

General MDMA, commonly called ecstasy or XTC, is a synthetic, psychoactive
drug possessing stimulant and mild hallucinogenic properties. The substance
gained popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an alternative to
heroin and cocaine. Ecstasy customarily is sold and consumed at "raves,"
which are all-night parties and concerts. Use appears to be widespread
within virtually every major U.S. city with indications of trafficking and
abuse in smaller towns.

Ecstasy is considered a "designer drug," which is a substance on the
illegal market that is a chemical analogue or variation of another
psychoactive drug. Illicitly marketed as a "feel good" drug, it has been
dubbed the "hug drug." Risks associated with ecstasy include severe
dehydration and death from heat stroke or heart failure.

. . . [H]eavy ecstasy users have significant impairments in visual and
verbal memory compared to nonusers. [It] may lead to impairment in other
cognitive functions, such as the ability to reason verbally or sustain
attention.

Ecstasy is often used in conjunction with other drugs and is extremely
popular among some teenagers and young professionals. Furthermore, growing
numbers of users, primarily in the Miami and Orlando areas, combine ecstasy
with heroin, a practice known as "rolling."

Emergency-room mentions increased from 68 in 1993 to 2,200 in 2000. Ecstasy
also suppresses the need to eat, drink or sleep and subsequently allows
people to stay up all night, dancing at raves.

. . . Among 12th graders, the perceived availability of ecstasy rose
sharply -- an increase of 28 percent. This is the largest one-year
percentage-point increase in the availability measure among 12th graders
for any drug class in the 26-year history of [the survey]. . . .
Law-enforcement agencies consider [ecstasy] to be among the most immediate
threats to youth and to law enforcement.