ECSTASY REMAINS POPULAR, COPS SAY

Recent Deaths Made Drug Cheaper

Just days after 18-year-old Sara Aeschlimann of Naperville overdosed
on tablets of a potent amphetamine variant that looked identical to a
popular variety of the club drug Ecstasy, a party was under way in
Lisle, police there said.

At the center of the May gathering was Jason Burnett, 20, of Lisle,
police told a DuPage County coroner's jury last week, selling perhaps
dozens of the small white pills stamped with a three-diamond logo.

At one point, a detective testified, investigators believe Burnett was
asked at the party whether the drug was the same type that killed
Aeschlimann, the powerful stimulant paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA).

Detective Dan Fitzgerald told the inquest that a partygoer told police
Burnett answered that he had taken some and was fine.

But a little more than 12 hours later, officials said, Burnett was
lying near death in the basement of a friend's house after apparently
ingesting PMA along with cocaine and heroin.

The fact that those at the party apparently knew of PMA's availability
reinforces authorities' opinion that the overdose deaths linked to an
Ecstasy lookalike substance will do little to curb Ecstasy's
popularity among area youths.

Law enforcement agencies have warned that Ecstasy use is rampant in
the Chicago area, and police said they have seen no indication that
the deaths of Aeschlimann, Burnett and a McHenry county teen in early
May have caused a decline.

"We're still seeing people buying it and selling it," said Mark Henry,
leader of the DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group.

"I can say we've seen no noticeable impact."

Naperville police have said the number of Ecstasy cases hasn't
increased. Officers elsewhere in the county said they are not
expecting the deaths to put a dent in teen drug use.

"It really has to be in your own back yard to see much of an effect at
all," said Sgt. Ray Turano, a gang and drug officer in Elmhurst.

Teens sitting with friends at the Naperville Riverwalk recently said
they have seen the deaths make an impact on the local drug market, but
not in the way some health experts might hope.

Some high school students said the overdose deaths simply made their
drug use cheaper, perhaps because local sellers of Ecstasy were
concerned about losing customers.

"The price dropped, but that's about it," said Kate, a graduate of a
Downers Grove high school who would give only her first name.

Those who use the drug, as well as drug counselors, agree with law
enforcement officers who contend Ecstasy users continue to ignore
warnings about the drug.

Instead, they say, teenagers have bought into the image of Ecstasy as
a pill that transforms the entire body into a single sensory organ.

As a result, they say the drug has crossed over from circles of
typical troubled teen drug users to all levels of the high school
social strata.

"The profile of this drug's user is anybody and everybody," said Robin
Amberger, student assistance coordinator at Naperville Central High
School.

Aeschlimann would have graduated from the school last month had she
not died from a drug overdose after taking "Doublestack white
Mitsubishi," the pill that experts warn looks exactly like Ecstasy but
actually contains PMA.

Both Ecstasy and PMA are stimulants with hallucinogenic properties,
but PMA is much more powerful.

A typical dose of PMA can be lethal, experts said.

The drug increases the heart rate to dangerous levels and can push the
body's temperature so high that organs begin shutting down.

Ecstasy's popularity has soared in recent years as the culture
surrounding all-night "rave" parties has become more mainstream,
experts have said.

Scientists say it increases levels of a chemical in the brain,
enhancing feelings of pleasure and heightening perception, leaving
users with a sense of well-being and a craving to be touched.

At least 2 million tablets of the illicit drug may now be flowing
every week from clandestine production labs in Europe onto the streets
of the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration warns.

Kate, 19, said users are willing to risk an encounter with a
look-alike drug in order to party with Ecstasy.

The pills, about the size of an aspirin, are imprinted with various
designs, cartoon characters, emblems and corporate logos--anything
from a Nikelike swoosh to the Teletubbie Dipsy. They sell for between
$15 and $35 a pill.

"You look at any situation and any kind of youth out here and you'll
find them doing it or trying it," said Mike Kruger, a College of
DuPage student, at the Riverwalk recently.

At Barrington Youth Services, a private counseling organization that
runs an alternative-sentencing program for first-time drug offenders,
teenagers "say the popular kids are the biggest users--the athletes,
the kids involved in fine arts, the high achievers," social worker
Cindy Murphy said.

Similar stories are heard on the North Shore, said Mark Graham,
clinical supervisor at Hazelden Chicago's Deerfield office.

"Here, it's the kids who walk around with a lot of money and dress
well and know the right places to go and drive BMW's," he said.

"That's who the other kids want to be. The kids think that only
happening, with-it kinds of people do it, not loser druggies."

Some teenagers who might never experiment with marijuana have
experimented with Ecstasy with little hesitation, Graham said. "It's
like popcorn," he said.

The drug's popularity has grown, experts said, despite the hazards
associated with its use.

Researchers familiar with methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA),
Ecstasy's active ingredient, have said it can lead to dehydration,
high blood pressure, stroke, convulsions and kidney failure due to
high body temperature, and that consistent use damages the brain.

Dr. David Gauvin, a DEA specialist, recently told a group of police
officers in Chicago that MDMA alters mood and memory by stripping the
brain's nerve terminals until they look "like wintry, bare tree
branches with few synaptic connections."

The specialty chemicals used in production are brought together almost
exclusively in Europe, according to authorities, and the drug is
shipped to the U.S., often by courier, under the direction of overseas
organized crime syndicates.

Police and health experts have warned that one of the drug's most
significant dangers is the fact it is often cut with all sorts of
substances, including other powerful stimulants and
amphetamines.

At the Chicago DEA summit, experts warned that a brown Ecstasy tablet
carrying a stamp of the Statue of Liberty and being sold under the
name "Space" had been discovered in New York and had been found to
contain a mixture of MDMA and heroin.

"People want to try E because it's the new thing and it gives you this
orgasmic feeling," said Stu, a Naperville 16-year-old who said he is a
regular Ecstasy user.

"Unless they're smacky [contain heroin,]; then you just puke your
brains out."

Aeschlimann was not heavily involved in school activities, but by all
accounts, she was happy and friendly, looking forward to graduating
with her class, when she died on May 14.

At Naperville Central's graduation ceremony in June, there was a
moment of silence for her.

She had two jobs, plenty of friends and an active interest in
photography, her family said.

"She was bubbly and happy and cared about people so much," her mother,
Janice, said after her daughter's death.

"She wasn't abnormal. She would go to the movies, eat pizza, go
bowling and fall asleep at a friend's house."