WHAT'S IN THE PILL MAY MAKE USER ANYTHING BUT ECSTATIC

Fact No.1: Ecstasy use among teens remains small but appears to be
increasing over time.

Percentage of high school students who said they've tried
ecstasy:

1999: 4.4 per cent

1997: 3.1 per cent

1995: 1.8 per cent

1993: 0.6 per cent

1991: Statistically insignificant use. Too low to report.

Source: The bi-annual Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, compiled by the
Centre for Addiction & Mental Health. Self-report data from a sample of
2,000 students from Grades 7, 9, 11 and 13.

In 1999, Grade 11 students reported the highest ecstasy use: 9.8 per
cent said they tried the drug. The lowest -- Grade 7 students, 0.6 per
cent.

The Ontario data present a "generally valid" picture of drug use in
other provinces, says Ian Wallace of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

Fact No. 2: Less than a quarter of the drugs sold on the street as
ecstasy in Canada's major cities contain ecstasy and only ecstasy.

Drug composition of 250 separate batches of ecstasy seized by
Vancouver-area RCMP, as tested by the University of British Columbia's
pharmaceutical science department:

* 23 per cent: pure ecstasy (MDMA and no other active
ingredients).

* 25 per cent: ecstasy with other drugs (Including one or more of the
following: caffeine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, methamphetamine,
dextromethorphan and PCP).

* 15 per cent: ecstasy and MDA (a related but more toxic
stimulant).

* 10 per cent: pure MDA.

* 23 per cent: MDA with other drugs (Including cocaine,
dextromethorphan, amphetamine, methamphetamine, caffeine and ephedrine).

* Three per cent: pure PCP or pure ketamine.

Source: Cpl. Scott Rintoul of the RCMP drug awareness service in
Vancouver. The
tested drugs were seized between June 1998 and December 1999.

Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are common ingredients in
non-prescription decongestant medications. Dextromethorphan is a cough
suppressant.

Fact No. 3: Winnipeg police seizures of ecstasy represent only a
fraction of the drug's use.

Ecstasy pills or capsules seized by the Winnipeg Police Service since
the first local MDMA seizure in 1998:

1998: 266

1999: 171

2000: 25 (to date)