ECSTASY USE IS ON THE RISE

Sellers tout it as a safe drug. Kids think it's no big deal. Police say
they're wrong.

"Ecstasy is the LSD of the new millennium," said Capt. Jim Pruetting,
commander of the Kansas City Police Department's drug enforcement unit.

The drug can lead to depression, fatigue, dehydration and long-term kidney,
liver and brain damage, he said. Police say people have died from
dehydration after taking the drug.

"This is illegal for a reason. ... You are pushing your body beyond its
natural limits," Pruetting said.

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, Ecstasy's use increased 500
percent between 1993 and 1998.

Federal agents recently intercepted 2.1 million Ecstasy tablets -- valued
at $40 million -- that arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on an
Air France flight from Paris. Law enforcement officials say it was the
largest Ecstasy seizure in U.S. history.

Ecstasy is hot. And it's only getting hotter in the Kansas City area,
police say.

Undercover investigations are on the rise, more arrests are being made and
courts are filling up.

In February, 12 persons were arrested during an Ecstasy investigation
outside a club at 31st Street and Gillham Plaza. Kansas City police have
made 25 arrests since May, Pruetting said.

Recently, five area men were arrested and charged with selling Ecstasy at
area nail salons, parking lots and houses in Clay, Jackson and Johnson
counties.

Ecstasy is a psychedelic amphetamine that combines the effects of speed and
hallucinogens, police say. Users report high energy and euphoria. It also
heightens a person's senses, including sight, sound and touch.

Users are typically 16 to 22 years old, white, and middle to upper class.

Experts say they may already be doing other drugs. They are thrill seekers.
They want to experiment.

"When it (Ecstasy) shows up at a party, they think, `Why not?' " said
Stephanie Neu, an educational and training consultant at the Regional
Prevention Center of the Johnson County Mental Health Center.

The center's adolescent treatment division also reports a recent surge in
Ecstasy use.

"Our nurse said that in the last six months we've had Johnson County kids
reporting more experimentation and some reporting regular Ecstasy use,"
said Barbara Burks, substance abuse services director. "That's a new
phenomenon."

The designer drug -- popular with the rave set -- is always changing.

"Each pill and each dose can be different," Neu said.

Sometimes a tablet or a capsule can have more amphetamine or hallucinogen.
The effect is never the same.

Anybody can make these homemade pills, which police say are imported from
places that include Europe and Australia.

"You have no idea what they are made with," Pruetting said.

The drug is easy to take, relatively cheap and discreet. It can look as if
users are swallowing an aspirin, Pruetting said.

Ecstasy pills can sell for $25 to $30 each. Police have also reported that
pills can sell for as low as $17 apiece. The drug is sold at parties,
popular nightspots and anywhere people are having fun, Pruetting said.

Police say it's more popular than other designer drugs -- including
Ketamine, LSD, or the date rape drugs GHB and Rohypnol.

According to the DEA, Ecstasy -- also known as "EXT," "clarity," "essence"
and "Adam" -- was discovered in Germany and patented by a pharmaceutical
company in 1914 as an appetite suppressant. It was never marketed because
of its side effects.

In the late 1970s, the drug was used by a small group of therapists in the
United States to help patients speak openly during psychotherapy.

The federal government declared the drug illegal in 1985 after seeing
evidence of its secret production in laboratories, increased use among
young people and adverse health effects.

Ecstasy didn't become popular until the late 1980s. In the 1990s, the
drug's use escalated among college students and young adults.

Ecstasy moves in underground circles.

That's one reason it can be found at raves, which are not held at fixed
locations. Pruetting said these spontaneous parties are attended by mainly
suburban party goers.

The parties pop up in sparse, rural areas that draw less attention. The
location is announced about two or three hours before by word of mouth and
the World Wide Web.

Ecstasy users say they are "rolling" usually 15 to 30 minutes after taking it.

Because the drug heightens some senses, it makes the rave's technomusic,
bright flashing lights and drumbeats more surreal.

Ecstasy users at a rave are easy to spot, police say.

Revelers stand in line giving one another shoulder and scalp massages. They
wave glow sticks in one another's faces. They suck on pacifiers throughout
the night fighting the teeth-grinding and dehydration caused by Ecstasy.

Only recent studies have begun to measure Ecstasy's effects. Experts aren't
sure if the drug is additive. Neu said users could become addicted to the
drug's stimulants.

Researchers in a 1998 federal study found that Ecstasy harms the neurons
releasing serotonin, a brain chemical thought to play an important role in
regulating memory and other functions such as mood, impulse control and
sleep cycles.

Nationwide hospital emergency room admissions in which patients mentioned
Ecstasy use rose from 637 in 1997 to 1,142 in 1998, according to Drug Abuse
Warning Network estimates.

In September, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's teen survey will begin
measuring Ecstasy use among area teens.

Police warn that parents should be concerned.

"Anytime you are altering the chemical makeup of your brain, anytime you do
that, you are taking a risk with your health," Pruetting said.