"EVEN 12-YEAR-OLDS ARE ON ECSTASY'

Even as the MCA launches its national anti-Ecstasy campaign, Chinese leaders
say it may be too late for thousands of schoolchildren

THE Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) officially launched its national
anti-Ecstasy campaign in a blaze of publicity yesterday, but leaders
expressed concern that it may be too late for thousands of schoolchildren
already partying to the mind-numbing effects of the designer drug.

Even as he announced new measures to curb Ecstasy use and the formation of a
committee to prevent its spread in schools, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Ling
Liong Sik said thousands of teenagers, some as young as 12, have already
started taking the drug.

""It is now very urgent for us to take our campaign to the schools,'' he
said.

""We want to train the teachers so they can tell the kids about the harmful
effects of this pill.

""Our children also have to be mentally prepared as they are being targeted
by the pushers.''

Since the party started its campaign against Ecstasy, the use of the drug at
nightspots has dropped because of intensified police raids.

However, the crackdown has led to Ecstasy dealers targeting schoolchildren
with cheap, adulterated Ecstasy pills.

Dr Ling said Ecstasy pushers were preying on schoolchildren by offering them
free pills for every classmate introduced to the drug.

He said: ""We find that there are now girls as young as 12 or 13 on the
drug. Our research team found thousands dancing away at one disco in
Butterworth.

""By 4 am, you will see them literally being carried out one by one and put
into vans. I don't think they are being sent home.''

He said Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang had also found a direct link
between Ecstasy pills use and Parkinson's disease.

This has caused concern that Malaysia may soon see a rising number of
teenagers starting to suffer from Parkinson's disease.

Although up to 80 per cent of the estimated 200,000 Ecstasy pill users are
Chinese, Dr Ling said this would soon change because the access to the drug
was becoming easier and cheaper.

Locally-produced versions, mixed with rat poison and glass crystals, are
manufactured in illegal laboratories and sold for as low as RM15 (S$6.75)
each.

Dr Ling said he wanted the authorities to step up enforcement and for
Ecstasy users to be prosecuted as well.

""You can be fined up to RM100,000 or jailed five years for the possession
of even one small pill.

""So, once you get one person fined, say, RM80,000 and jailed for four years
just for having one pill, others will think twice before trying,'' said Dr
Ling, who is also Malaysia's Transport Minister.

He said the Malaysian Cabinet had already approved regulations that would
allow police and Road Transport department officers to conduct on-the-spot
urine checks on motorists suspected to be driving under the influence of the
pills.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said police had managed to seize
140,000 pills and close down 10 Ecstasy laboratories this year.

A total of 176 accused traffickers are also awaiting trial.

They face the death penalty if found guilty.