CLUB DRUGS BECOMING ALL THE 'RAVE'

Candy and common sundries could be concealing the latest generation of
designer drugs known as "club drugs," local police were told Monday.

State Attorney General Michael Fisher led a regional conference to discuss
strategies with local police for fighting the spread of club drugs,
including GHB, ecstasy, LSD and Ketamine or "Special K."

Fisher said yesterday's session at the Radisson Hotel in Green Tree was
designed to educate about 200 law enforcement officials from southwestern
Pennsylvania about the latest trends in drug use.

Club drugs are "becoming part of the drug culture of western Pennsylvania,"
said Fisher, noting that Pittsburgh and Cleveland have become hubs for
distributing the illegal drugs. However, he did not have 1999 statistics on
club drug arrests.

Faith Erb-Elliott, with the attorney general's Bureau of Narcotics,
explained that the drugs can be concealed in over-the-counter lip balms and
eye droppers as well as bags of candy.

For example, Erb-Elliott said a method called "rolling" involves dealers
and users melting Tootsie Roll candy in a microwave, then inserting the
drugs into the soft candy to conceal and transport.

Forward Township Police Chief Thomas H. Staley said he never would have
known that such items as bags of Tootsie Rolls were used to conceal
designer drugs.

Now that police in the region know what to look for, they will be more
effective in detecting possible club drug use, Staley said.

Erb-Elliott said users of the drug ecstasy experience muscle aches, teeth
grinding and overheating, so drug store items such as muscle rubs, chewy
candies and spray bottles are often used to combat the side effects.

She also explained that colored-bead necklaces, bracelets and flashing
lights are all part of the paraphernalia worn by those who attend rave parties.

"Everything has to be lights, camera, action," Erb-Elliott said.

After the training session, Fisher called for the General Assembly to enact
laws making the sale and use of ketamine a criminal offense in Pennsylvania.

Fisher said ketamine is used to treat animals, and there has been an
increase in burglaries at veterinary hospitals that coincides with
increased use of the drug.

Fisher noted that the drugs are not harmless, as some believe. He said
parents need to know that drug sales often occur at raves, dance parties
that can attract hundreds of participants.

Pennsylvania residents have suffered serious health problems and comas from
overdoses, said Fisher, noting enforcement actions recently in Philadelphia
and State College.

Officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency flanked Fisher yesterday,
adding that lax enforcement of drugs laws in Eastern Europe has created a
flow of the drugs to the United States.