NO JOY IN USING ECSTASY

If young people don't know it by now, they should - taking the drug
Ecstasy is idiocy.

For one, Ecstasy is being blamed, directly or indirectly, for the
deaths of at least two Chicago-area teens in recent weeks. An
18-year-old Naperville girl died of an overdose after taking a drug
that resembled Ecstasy.

For another, law enforcement is cracking down on Ecstasy dealers,
evidence of which is the investigation by the Palatine Police
Department and the Cook County Sheriff's Department. It resulted in 11
arrests of people accused of selling Ecstasy to undercover officers at
a teen nightclub in Palatine.

There is nothing ecstatic about going to jail - or about the drug's
side effects. A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse reveals
that heavy users of Ecstasy are risking brain damage. Other
consequences are blurred vision, confusion, depression, anxiety and
paranoia.

Despite all this, Ecstasy's high is appealing among many young people.
The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that abuse of Ecstasy has
increased 500 percent over a five-year period. In 1993, law
enforcement officials seized 196 tablets of Ecstasy. In just the first
half of 1999, they confiscated 216,300 tablets.

Efforts to keep kids away from drugs have to put strong emphasis on
the dangers of Ecstasy, although you have to wonder why today's teens,
who had the benefit of going through well-organized anti-drug
campaigns such as DARE in their younger years, would still experiment
with dangerous drugs.

Because Ecstasy is found at teen dance clubs, owners of these
establishments need to be watchful for its presence and to bring in,
and cooperate with, law enforcement if they suspect the drug is being
used or dealt on the premises. For its part, law enforcement needs to
be sure it is prepared to deal with the growing presence of Ecstasy.

But whether it is Ecstasy or any other illegal drug, the first line of
defense against trouble rests with teens making responsible decisions
and parents guiding them in this direction.

Teens aren't perfect, and neither are their parents. But it helps if
they spend time together and communicate with each other. Teens need
to be held accountable for their errors in judgment. They need to
understand the consequences of risky behavior. They need to understand
rules of proper conduct and the importance of abiding by those rules.
If all these factors were at work, perhaps teens would not need this
kind of Ecstasy.