Note: Gjesvold is the coordinator of employer services for Serentiy
Lane, a private, not-for-profit, family-oriented treatment center for
alcohol & other drug dependencies.

STRAIGHT STUFF: `PERFECT DRUG' IS PERFECTLY DANGEROUS

This past summer, millions of us saw "The Perfect Storm," the story
of a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of three powerful weather
systems. When the storms came together, they inflicted serious
damage. People died as a result.

I wonder if conditions aren't coming together to make MDMA -
otherwise known as ecstasy - similarly damaging to some of our young
people. Some have even called it "the perfect drug."

MDMA is certainly powerful. Both hallucinogen and stimulant - similar
to a combination of mescaline and methamphetamine - its effects can
last up to six hours, creating what has been described as an "almost
unbelievable feeling of connection with other people." Some have
said, "It's like you just love everything and everybody. The walls
come down."

MDMA is also relatively inexpensive and growing more available at
parties, raves or on many city streets around the country.

On top of this, there's a ready market. That's because young people,
like most of us, need a sense of connection with others, a feeling of
being accepted, and ways to interact comfortably. Yet they live in a
world of individualism, driven by competition. A study released
recently by a Harvard researcher makes the case that the American
community has essentially collapsed in the last 35 years. The
situation is difficult enough for adults. Young people have had even
less time to develop coping skills.

Perhaps the convergence of these powerful forces can help us
understand why nationally, by 1999, the number of 12th-graders that
had used MDMA in their lifetime increased to 8 percent. Or maybe we
can better understand why the National Institutes of Health reported
that in Boston, a 1996-97 survey of public schools found that 14
percent of males and 7 percent of females had used MDMA at least once
in their lives.

A perfect combination, all right. Perfectly dangerous.

Let's start with the health risks. According to the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, studies have now shown the first connection
between MDMA and brain damage. The report notes that, among other
effects, some MDMA users "have memory problems that persist after
they have stopped using the drug." The amount of damage is, as would
be expected, related to the amount of MDMA taken.

There are additional risks. Other documented physical problems
include nausea, blurred vision, acnelike rashes and liver damage. The
first MDMA-related fatalities have now been reported. Some of these
are due directly to the effects of MDMA. Others come from toxic
chemicals passed off as the drug. This problem is bad enough in the
San Francisco Bay Area that a controversial program now offers tests
at certain clubs to determine the actual content of the tablets sold
as MDMA.

MDMA presents serious mental health risks, as well. Because the drug
depletes the brain of serotonin - the natural compound that helps us
maintain a sense of well-being - people using MDMA can be prone to
depression, anxiety, paranoia, sleep problems and more. Researchers
say that these effects can even occur weeks after taking the drug.

But at the heart of the matter there is something that may be even
more damaging. Yes, MDMA offers a feeling of connection that most
people crave - and young people perhaps most of all.

But the feeling isn't real. It's synthetic. When the drug wears off,
people using it go back to who they were before. But the feelings
they started with - isolation, lack of confidence or anxiety - are
made worse because nothing constructive has been done to change those
feelings.

The bottom line is this. Using powerful drugs to feel connected means
we never get a chance to learn how to feel OK just as we are. Our
ability to do so actually gets weaker. We don't build the networks of
friends that we might, and we never get the true self-esteem that
comes from finding courage in a challenging social situation.

Powerful factors are coming together and driving the attraction to
MDMA. The drug seems to offer a way to feel like we're loved and
wanted in a tough world. But those kind of feelings only come from
real relationships - and those take work and time. There's no
substitute for that commitment, for courageously taking chances and
learning from what happens. Even the "perfect drug" can't do that.