ECSTASY USERS MAY GET PARKINSON'S EARLY

Research In The US And Europe Has Shown That Abuse Of The Drug Can Trigger
The Disease At A Young Age, Says National Parkinson Foundation

KUALA LUMPUR -- Prolonged consumption of Ecstasy pills can lead to
Parkinson's disease at a young age based on research in Europe and the
United States, the National Parkinson's Foundation said yesterday.

""We know that Ecstasy pills that are being produced do not conform to drug
prescriptions and contain chemicals which are very harmful to nerve
cells,'' the foundation president, Datuk J.P.Tan said.

He said the foundation was concerned because of the 18,000 to 20,000
Parkinson's disease patients in Malaysia, 15 per cent were below 35-years-old.

""In Europe and America the numbers are alarmingly high, that's why they
have set up the Young Parkinson's Clubs to help the patients,'' he told a
press conference after the launch of a Parkinson's disease book by MCA
president Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik here.

Dr Ling said parents and teachers should together teach their children to
say ""no'' to Ecstasy pills.

""What is frightening is when teenagers start taking drugs, you have
teenagers having Parkinson's disease even before they reach 20.''

Datuk Tan added that the foundation had put up posters in schools to
educate students on the disease besides organising seminars to explain the
dangers of misusing the drug.

It also expects to set up a counselling centre here in October to help
Parkinson's disease patients.

The disease affects both men and women and there is no cure for it, with
most Parkinson's disease patients dying after seven years of contracting
the disease.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Chung Tsu Tuan, the principal assistant director
of the National Drug Agency, said prolonged abuse of Ecstasy pills would
also affect the user's personality.