JUST FOR THE TASTE OF IT

Ecstasy substitute was sold over-the-counter at more than 1,200 outlets.
Then the Health Ministry had second thoughts.

Explorer, a legal substitute for ecstasy, recently navigated the length and
breadth of the country for several months. Though it does not give users
the euphoric feeling provided by ecstasy, body-stimulation effects caused
by Explorer are actually more intense than those produced by illegal
ecstasy pills.

Originally, the Health Ministry approved the marketing of Explorer pills
under the rubric of "food supplements." But two weeks ago, when laboratory
analysis found that Explorer, produced from the Sida Cordifolia plant,
contains ephedrine alkaloids which are banned for food use, the Ministry
backtracked and canceled the authorization.

The Health Ministry now holds that due to the existence of ephedrine, the
substance should be classified as a drug whose importation and use in
Israel is to be held up, subject to approval from its pharmaceutical
department.

For now, Uri Falcha, who imports Explorer from the United States, has
received an official directive from the Health Ministry, ordering him to
immediately stop marketing the product. In parallel, the Ministry is
banning Sida Cordifolia for use in food products.

Both XTA, another ecstasy substitute whose sale has for the time being been
banned, and Explorer exemplify the growing industry of drug surrogates.
These are products which have a clear relation to narcotics, and which are
sometimes sold over-the-counter in stores, on an unrestricted basis. Falcha
says that Explorer can be found today at 1,200 outlets around Israel, and
that some 50,000-60,000 product items have already been sold.

Now that Explorer's marketing license has been rescinded, and after "buzz,"
a marijuana substitute marketed by Falcha, failed to make vibes among
consumers due to its weak physical effects, Falcha is trying his luck with
another item, "mega-buzz." He has also applied for licenses to market a few
other drug surrogates, and these requests are currently pending with the
Health Ministry's food administration.

The traffic in drug surrogates has left governmental authorities scratching
their heads. An inter-ministerial committee comprised of officials from the
Health, Public Security, and Industry and Trade ministries has started
trying to formulate guidelines for the examination of all imported
drug-like substances. Dr. Antoli Margolis, of the Health Ministry's
department for addiction care, explains that this inter-ministerial
committee has been formed because of the steep rise in the number of drug
surrogate substances imported into Israel.

The Health Ministry divides substances into three categories - those
admissible for use, those whose use requires a doctor's prescription, and
those banned because of illicit narcotic applications. The fact that the
Health Ministry permitted the marketing of Explorer in Israel, only to
change its mind after several months when it discovered that the plant from
which the substance is extracted contains ephredine, reflects its limited
ability to monitor substances that are poised to flood national markets.

Falcha is flabbergasted that the Health Ministry detected the ephredine in
Sida Cordofolia at such a late date. "What does it mean when they say 'we
didn't know,'?" he asks incredulously. "If the Health Ministry doesn't
know, then who can really know?"

Falcha charges that the Ministry doesn't bother to enforce questionable
bans that it slaps on products. "They say 'don't use the product,' but
everybody uses it. It would be much better if, instead of dealing with
prohibitions, they were to provide information, and explain to people what
LSD is, or what ecstasy and grass are."

He complains about the willful presentation of distorted information to the
public: "In Israel, a joint and heroin are considered comparable - as
though anyone who has tried a joint, and enjoyed it, won't be able to
distinguish between it, and shooting heroin." The authorities fail to draw
distinctions between hard and soft drugs, he charges.

Yet hints of new official approaches to drug issues can be gleaned from the
attitude of Dr. Jorge Glaser, the head of the Health Ministry's
addictions-care department. Not a proponent of the legalization of
narcotics, Glaser believes nonetheless that new options and increased
information should be provided to these who already use drugs. He notes
that in countries where drug use is illegal, drug-takers are unable to know
much about what they're using. To furnish evidence for his point, he
observes that just a few months ago, police in Israel reported that whole
shipments of ecstasy pills from the Netherlands contained rat poison.

Glaser says that some European countries which ban drugs have set-up
quasi-official laboratories outside of social clubs. Social workers
stationed in these labs/health facilities give advice to party-goers,
helping those experiencing unwanted side-effects from drug use. In tandem,
lab workers examine narcotics, to filter out lethal compounds, before use.
Glaser says that such examinations have disclosed that just 40 percent of
tested substances actually contained the compounds which they were
purported to have.

"Activity in these laboratories is done anonymously," Glaser says. "They
have been effective in minimizing health risks. Criminals put all sorts of
substances into narcotics - consumers don't have a clue as to what they've
purchased, and the whole business turns into Russian roulette. As a health
professional, my view is that it's wrong to go near drugs; but I'm not a
moralist whose business is to tell people what to do. I believe in
disseminating clear information, and to provide health services to help
people when accidents happen; and these services should be used without
people fearing that the police will come to arrest them."

Such calculated forms of latitude in drug policy, Glaser concludes, will be
enacted in Israel "only after a few incidents of death caused by incorrect
use of drugs.".

A few months ago, XTA (an ecstasy surrogate) was marketed in Israel. Among
other ingredients, XTA contains caffeine. According to Uri Falcha, importer
of another ecstasy clone, Explorer, the Health Ministry banned XTA by
claiming that any item which includes caffeine as a food supplement
requires a doctors' prescription.

Falcha says that the director of the ministry's food services department,
Dr. Brian Kazin, informed him about this caffeine-based ban at a meeting
two weeks ago, when the Explorer prohibition was announced. But Coca-Cola
also contains caffeine. According to Falcha, the Health Ministry official
told him that were Coke to be brought for approval today, the Ministry
"would never approve it."

Asked about this comment, Kazin said that Coca-Cola is a soft drink whose
use has been accepted around the world for years. What would happen were it
to be brought for approval today? "Maybe we would approve it, or maybe we
wouldn't," he said. "We'd have to talk about it."