COURSE ON SAYING 'NO' TO ECSTASY SOON

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 80 school heads, senior assistants and parent-teacher
associations representatives will attend a special course on fighting the
Ecstasy threat soon.

Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik said the course, to be conducted by the MCA,
is to train teachers on how to get their students to say no to Ecstasy.

The MCA president said students were the major target of Ecstasy pushers
and it was found that many were not prepared on how to say no to Ecstasy.

"If demand is cut, supply will stop,'' he said when launching the Wanita
MCA anti-Ecstasy campaign here yesterday.

The event was attended by about 3,000 women from all over the nation,
including representatives from non-governmental organisations.

Dr Ling said there were not many new pill poppers while many on the pill
had started to realise its danger and were staying away from it.

He said he had been travelling around the country and managed to talk to
some girls on their experiences after taking Ecstasy.

After six months on the pill, they gradually lost their memory, their
reaction was slower and slurred in their speech, Dr Ling said.

He said the girls told him that they only realised the dangers of Ecstasy
after reading it in the newspapers.

Wanita MCA chief Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen advised parents to listen to their
children and share with them information and thoughts instead of lecturing
or instructing them on what to do and what not to do.

She said the 350,000 Wanita MCA members would adopt the "one heart, one
vision and one strength'' concept to reach out to the masses in the
campaign.