ECSTASY IN THE STATEHOUSE

It was a politician's dream come true. House Republican leader Lee
Daniels held a press conference earlier this month calling for a
drastic increase in penalties for selling the drug "Ecstasy." Daniels
wanted to make the sale of a relatively small amount of the drug a
Class X felony, which includes a mandatory six to thirty-year prison
sentence without the chance of probation.

Time magazine did a big cover story on the drug just days before, so
the press conference received wide coverage in the media. Daniel's
spokesman said on the day of the event that his office was flooded
with calls from reporters and local state's attorneys, who were
particularly exited about the proposal.

Many parents of teenagers, particularly suburban parents, are worried
about the drug's rapid spread through the youth culture. Those
parents happen to belong to one of the most intensely courted
demographics in politics today (mainly because they once voted
Republican, then switched to Bill Clinton, and were eventually
repulsed during the Monica Lewinski scandal).

Politically speaking, this is obviously a major positive for Daniels
without any downside. His politically vulnerable members and the
challengers he's backing can all use the proposal to their advantage
in the November elections.

But, according to that Time's article the drug's dangers don't really
match the intense hype it's getting these days. Ecstasy, according to
the magazine, isn't particularly toxic. A user would have to take
fourteen times the normal (six-hour "high") dosage of pure Ecstasy
before they'd die. Daniels compared it to LSD, but Time specifically
pointed out that the drug doesn't cause hallucinations. It's been
used by a small number of psycho-therapists to treat various maladies.
According to Time, the drug makes people "feel peaceful, empathetic
and energetic - not edgy, just clear." It's also not addictive.

There are real dangers. Many users take Ecstasy at dance parties, or
"raves." If you dance like a nut and don't drink water the drug can
make you overheat to the point where your blood coagulates. Time
reported that dozens of people have died that way. The other major
danger, according to Time, is not from Ecstasy, but from "look-alike"
pills. The government doesn't regulate drug dealers, of course, so
lots of them will sell other stuff and claim it's Ecstasy. Some of
those chemicals can be extremely dangerous. Then there's the memory
loss and the depression that some users experience after the drug wears off.

No doubt about it, Daniel's bill will pass. The hype is just too
fierce and the politics are just too good. I would bet money that
there will be almost no debate before it flies out of both legislative
chambers and is signed into law.

Legislators are not going to stand up for the rights of drug dealers.
Daniel's legislation doesn't target casual users, so the white
suburban youth children of that all-important demographic are probably
safe from jail, which might ruin their futures a lot more than minor
experimentations that don't go awry. (If Al Gore and George W. Bush
had been arrested for just one of their multitudinous "youthful
indiscretions" we'd have two completely different presidential
candidates right now.)

But there is a big problem with this bill. Daniels wants to give the
Department of Public Health the authority to impose Class X felonies
on "designer drugs" as soon as they are invented, without any sort of
legislative action. That means the debate over incarceration versus
prevention is completely over, which may be fine with the majority but
is no way to run a railroad.

I don't want any kids getting the wrong idea if by slight chance they
happen to read this column. DON"T DO IT! Live long lives and prosper.
Stay away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The daughter of a friend
of mine dabbled with all sorts of drugs and recently died from an
accidental heroin overdose.

The pain of her loss is still unbearable. Please don't do that to
yourself, your family and your friends.

Adults in a free society, however, have the duty to debate these
issues. Handing over law-making authority to an unelected bureaucracy
is probably a politically popular move but it's just one more in a
long line of erosions of constitutional rights and separation of
powers in the name of a drug war.

That has caused a phenomenal increase in incarcerations without a
correspondingly huge decrease in drug usage. We need more debate, not
less.