ECSTASY 'NOT A RAVE DRUG ANYMORE,' POLICE REPORT

Seizures Of Designer Drug Double

Police seizures so far this year of the designer drug Ecstasy are almost
double the entire haul for 1999, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says.

Across Canada, police have seized 712,000 of the feel-good tablets, with a
street value anywhere between $17.8 million and $28.5 million, said Leo
Vaillant, the RCMP's head analyst on drug-related issues. Comparatively,
just 360,000 tablets were captured, worth between $9 million and $14.4
million in 1999.

The soaring rate of Ecstasy seizures illustrates what is becoming common
knowledge among law enforcement officials, researchers and the dealers and
users themselves: demand for the drug has exploded as the one-time raver
pick-me-up has become a drug of choice across demographic lines.

Mr. Vaillant said it also indicates police are getting better at
investigating Ecstasy operations -- either rings that import the drug into
the country or, increasingly, labs that manufacture it in Canada. "There
seems to be a shift to (domestic labs), because there is a market for that,
probably more than for other synthetic drugs," he said.

"It's not a rave drug anymore," said Det. Randy Smith of the Toronto
police. "It's gotten into the mainstream."

Ecstasy's popularity stems from many things, description of its feel-good
high, the widely-held belief it has no negative side effects.

"The marketing is brilliant," said Dr. Clare Roscoe, a resident in
psychiatry at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. "It's got a name
that's not crack or cocaine. It's Ecstasy. All of that makes it seem very
harmless. A lot of people use it without a lot of side effects."

But the surge in its use also comes at a time when the body of literature
detailing the drug's potentially harmful effects are becoming known.

More use has meant more Ecstasy related deaths. Research is beginning to
detail the depression or hangover that can occur a few days following an
Ecstasy high; and more researchers have become wary of its potential
long-term effects, including possibly long-term damage to memory and
cognitive functions or chronic depression.

"Is there going to be a generation of people who are going to be
permanently depressed?" Dr. Roscoe asked.

Across the province, about 4.8 per cent of junior and high school students
have used the drug in the past 12 months, according to a study by the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Although figures for Ottawa are not available, Louise Logue, youth
intervention co-ordinator for the Ottawa-Carleton police, said use in the
city is clearly rising. "While they may have been introduced to the drugs
at a rave, they clearly aren't waiting for a rave to use it."

As it moves outside of raves, that means the drug is likely reaching
younger and younger children, she said.

But it is the increasing use among adults of all ages in the past year that
has caught most people's attention and which is changing the way the drug
is trafficked. Few figures have emerged, but anecdotes and news reports
have begun to spread regarding the drug's popularity among adult
professionals, couples, even senior citizens.

That has clear implications, said Det. Randy Smith of the Toronto police's
major drug unit, since it means it has gained acceptance in groups much
more reluctant to take risks. "You're going to convince a 16-year-old a lot
quicker than you will a 26-year-old," Det. Smith said.

The growing demand for the drug has led to changes in the way the drug is
supplied: where European-based rings used to send the drugs to Canada by
courier, now more and more labs have popped up that produce the drugs
domestically.

Det. Smith said there are no estimates as to the number of labs, but there
appears to be no shortage. Each investigation conducted by the Toronto
police this year has turned up a lab, he said. "Every time we put our hook
in the water, we catch a fish," Det. Smith said.

And at the same time, medical research has begun to show that the drug
might not be all good.

Ecstasy is a mood-enhancing drug that makes users feel closer to those
around them and enhances physical experiences. The drug is made of a
chemical compound called MDMA, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine, although
often impure Ecstasy or other substances are sold using its name.

It seems to work by stimulating the massive release of serotonin -- a
chemical that controls mood.

Many researchers now think that the hangover that some Ecstasy users
experience a few days after taking the pill comes from a serotonin low,
following the serotonin high, said Dr. Stephen Kish of the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health. To counter the effect, many users recommend
taking Prozac.

Dr. Kish released a study last month showing that the brain of a deceased
26-year-old Ecstasy user had drastically low serotonin levels.

But Dr. Kish says the evidence that has most people on alert are the
indications that the drug causes long-term brain damage.

Nothing is proven definitively, but recent research indicates that chronic
Ecstasy users can suffer from lower than normal cognition and memory, which
appears to be related to the amount of Ecstasy that has been consumed by a
user.

But the studies have been criticized -- justifiably, Dr. Kish said --
because many Ecstasy users use other drugs, so it is difficult to pin poor
mental performance on Ecstasy alone. Also, there is often no data on
patients from before they began using drugs. Nonetheless, the research is
growing stronger. "My bottom line is that the evidence is strongly
suggestive, but not yet proven," he said.

While "the vast majority" of users likely do not suffer from the
side-effects, he said, what is scariest is that few of them are even aware
of the risks. "I haven't found a single user who is even aware of the
information," he said.