ECSTASY TRAFFIC IS ON THE RISE IN HERNANDO

Authorities are starting to see more sales offenses involving the
drug, which is popular among people in their teens and 20s.

A drug blamed for a growing number of overdoses and deaths among
teenagers in other parts of Florida and the nation is popping up
increasingly in Hernando County.

Sheriff's deputies on Thursday arrested three people, including a
married couple, in two different cases involving the sale of the
methamphetamine Ecstasy.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Deanna Dammer said deputies have made
between six and eight arrests this year involving sale of the drug,
which causes a loss of inhibition among users, increases alertness and
euphoria. It is particularly popular among people in their teens and
20s.

The number of arrests during 2000 is up from only about one or two
arrests last year, Dammer said. The Sheriff's Office has made several
arrests over the years of people possessing Ecstasy, she said, but
this year saw the first marked increase in the number of people
charged with selling it.

Dammer said deputies have confiscated a total of 302 Ecstasy tablets
worth $4,500 this year, up from fewer than 50 pills last year.

"This is a pretty big increase," Dammer said. "We expect there's more
out there."

In a case Thursday, Eric Scott Donaldson, 38, of 17704 Carthage Ave.,
Spring Hill, and his wife, Donna, 37, were charged with the sale and
possession of Ecstasy.

They were arrested after a sale to a confidential informer shortly
before 9 p.m. Thursday in a bank parking lot on Commercial Way, a
sheriff's report said.

The informer had approached the driver's side of the couple's Monte
Carlo, where Eric Scott Donaldson was sitting. Donna Donaldson handed
a bag with 15 pills to her husband, who handed them to the informer,
the report said. The informant then gave Donaldson $255, which he
handed to his wife.

The two were released from Hernando County Jail without
bail.

In a second case, Vincent Carmine Forster, 25, of 13651 Rudi Loop,
Spring Hill, was arrested at his home Thursday in connection with a
drug transaction that took place in August, a report says.

During an undercover drug transaction, Forster sold 102 Ecstasy pills
to a confidential informer for $1,200 at an undisclosed location in
Hernando County, records say. Forster, too, was released from jail
without bail.

While authorities have kits to test for the presence of Ecstasy, the
drugs are sent to Florida Department of Law Enforcement for
verification.

In Pasco County, the problem with Ecstasy is in full
bloom.

Last week, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office seized 11,227 Ecstasy
pills, $700 in cash and a third of a pound of hydroponically grown
marijuana from a Port Richey storage facility.

Earlier this year, Eric Przybyszewski, 17, died from an overdose of
Ecstasy. The Ridgewood High School teen had taken the drug after a
night of partying with friends.

A nationwide study released last week showed that just over 8 percent
of 12th-graders said they had used Ecstasy in the past year, up from
5.6 percent in 1999. The survey questioned 45,000 students in eighth,
10th and 12th grades in 435 randomly chosen schools.

Still, Dammer does not think the problem is out of control in Hernando
County, at least not yet.

"At this point, we have relatively few arrests compared to other large
areas," she said. "It's still a big increase over last year. I don't
want to get into predicting, but it's an increasing national problem,
and it stands to reason we'll see an increase in it, too."