ECSTASY FINDS 'TRENDY' NICHE ON DRUG SCENE

State Officials Seize Thousands Of Pills

The tiny tablets are cheap, as drugs go. They don't carry the stigma
attached to methamphetamine and cocaine. Many users even believe
they're safe.

Ecstasy pills, emblazoned with trendy logos, have found their niche
among Generation X-ers, and they are turning up in record numbers in
Arizona, officials say.

More than 75,000 Ecstasy pills were seized this week in Phoenix, and
northern Arizona officials busted up the state's first uncovered
Ecstasy lab.

Fewer than 1,000 doses of the drug were seized in Arizona last year,
said Jim Molesa, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

''Ecstasy for a number of years was kind of a culture drug that these
kids that went to raves used,'' Molesa said. ''It's now coming into
more mainstream fashion.''

In fact, Ecstasy has become what some police officials call
''trendy.''

''It's one of those feel-good drugs,'' said Cmdr. David Gonzales of
the state Department of Public Safety. ''It lasts four to six hours.
It's euphoric. Those types of drugs are very popular.''

U.S. Customs officials have seized nearly 6 million doses of Ecstasy
this fiscal year, a 1,200 percent increase from fiscal 1997, when
400,000 tablets of Ecstasy were seized.

''It's gotten to be acceptable practice among recreational drug
users,'' Molesa said. ''Where you or I may go home and have a bottle
of beer or a glass of wine, recreational drug users will pop a few
pills.''

Four Flagstaff residents were arrested Thursday after officials raided
two homes they said were being used to manufacture Ecstasy.

In Phoenix, six Valley men were arrested Tuesday after customs
inspectors in Los Angeles intercepted four shipments of Ecstasy from
Belgium. Agents seized 75,502 Ecstasy tablets after they were
delivered to four Valley addresses.

And just four months ago, Phoenix police arrested former Mafia hit man
Sammy ''The Bull'' Gravano and accused him of bankrolling an Ecstasy
syndicate that sold an estimated 25,000 pills a week and took in more
than $1.2 million in profits each month.

The tablets most commonly come from dealers in the Netherlands and
Europe and are smuggled into the United States through express
delivery services or by human couriers. Distributors pay $2 to $8 per
pill, then sell them for $20 to $40.

Ecstasy produces both stimulant and psychedelic effects lasting three
to six hours, according to a Web site created by the National
Institute for Drug Abuse. However, confusion, depression, sleep
problems, anxiety and paranoia have been reported even weeks after the
drug is taken, the Web site says. Long-term use can lead to heart or
kidney failure.

Still, users too often believe Ecstasy isn't a serious drug, Molesa
said.

''It's like, 'Well, I'm not dropping acid, so it's not a heavy-duty
drug,' '' he said. ''But it's bad news.''