TEENS FIND 'CLUB DRUGS' ANYWHERE

Accessibility Makes Them A Chief Threat

People say ecstasy makes them feel enlightened and loving. The
anesthetic GHB gives people a profoundly intoxicating effect. Ketamine
can put people in a dreamy state.

Ecstasy also can increase heart rate and cause dehydration. GHB easily
can send someone into a coma. Ketamine, better known as "Special K," a
dissociative anesthetic, can practically immobilize users.

Whether mixed with other drugs or alone, these drugs and other
so-called club drugs are killing at a scary pace, say substance abuse
and drug policy experts.

And while ecstasy, GHB and Rohypnol were once the drugs of choice at
clubs or raves, all of them now have made their way into teenage hands.

"It's alarming. Teens are doing it like people used to drink beer,"
said Mary Naples, a licensed mental health counselor in Boca Raton.
"These kids can use these drugs anywhere, and they are."

State Drug Control Policy spokesman Tim Bottcher said the situation
with club drugs, or designer drugs, is "absolutely" at a crisis mode.

"We consider club drugs to be the chief threat to the younger kids,"
Bottcher said.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, a mixture of a stimulant and hallucinogen, was
listed as the direct or related cause of one death in Palm Beach
County, four deaths in Broward County and eight deaths in Miami-Dade
County in the past three years.

The Drug Control Policy office, which collected the data from the past
three years of autopsy reports, says the numbers could be higher
because different medical examiners have different record-keeping
systems, and some did not test for designer drugs in the past.

The anesthetic GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, is blamed for two deaths
in Broward and one death in Miami-Dade in the same three-year period.

Methamphetamine, ketamine and nitrous oxide were the direct or related
cause of 10 deaths in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

All the designer drugs combined were responsible for or contributors
to 230 deaths in Florida, according to statistics.

Wrong combination

Authorities say these designer drugs are popular among people in their
early 20s and increasingly popular among teenagers.

"Having these kids use a single drug is one thing, but what we've
found is kids like to mix these drugs," Bottcher said. "If you mix GHB
and alcohol, there's a good chance you're going to go into a coma and
die."

Last month, four young adults almost overdosed after taking GHB at a
Hollywood party.

Davie resident Richard Julian and his three friends ended up on life
support; their conditions later improved.

"I don't know that much about `G,'" Julian told the Sun- Sentinel last
month. "But I know I won't do it again. GHB sucks."

Teenagers, college students and other party attendees frequently take
GHB for its immediately intoxicating effects and its relatively low
price. It is also easy to find, according to police and several users
interviewed.

"What's worrisome about GHB is if you have the raw ingredients, you
can make it at home," Bottcher said. "You don't have to be a chemist."

Timothy Condon, associate director of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, said GHB is one of the easiest and cheapest drugs to make.

"I've heard reports from people in Florida that they were literally
giving it away," Condon said.

Federal agents arrested a Boca Raton man less than two weeks ago after
he received a 55-gallon shipment of the controlled substance GBL --
enough to make 98,000 doses of GHB. GBL is sold through the Internet
as a natural supplement that breaks down into GHB.

GHB and Rohypnol, known as roofies, can easily be slipped into drinks
without detection because they are odorless and tasteless. Both are
referred to as "date rape" drugs because they can render someone
helpless and produce amnesia in a victim.

Rohypnol belongs to the benzodiazepine class of drugs and has never
been approved for medical use in the United States, making it more
difficult to find.

Condon said he thinks GHB has taken the place of roofies among
teenagers because of its accessibility. And while the sometimes deadly
effects of GHB are scary enough to Condon, he is more concerned about
two other drugs.

"I'm not an alarmist when it comes to drugs, but I am very alarmed
about methamphetamine and ecstasy," Condon said.

Methamphetamine, also known as speed or crank, is a highly addictive
stimulant that is slowly making its way to South Florida. Effects
include anxiety, paranoia and cardiovascular problems.

Agent Rick McAfee, of the Palm Beach County sheriff's narcotics unit,
said crystal methamphetamine use is "starting to filter in this way."

McAfee said designer drugs such as ecstasy are now "just as prevalent"
in Palm Beach County as other drugs such as cocaine and marijuana.

A small faction of psychotherapists who prescribed MDMA before it was
outlawed in the mid-1980s has long argued that there is no proof that
ecstasy is harmful. But the latest research shows otherwise, Condon
said.

Brain imaging research at Johns Hopkins University shows that ecstasy
damages brain cells that produce serotonin.

Heavy ecstasy users also had memory problems that persisted for at
least two weeks after they stopped using the drug, according to a
study. Immediate effects are dehydration.

The challenge for police and substance abuse experts lies with
convincing teenagers and adults of those long-term effects, which
continue to be studied.

"One reason we're having such a problem is that people find it hard to
believe that something that makes you feel so good can be bad for
you," Condon said. "But you don't really want to have your brain changed."

`Hug drug' a favorite

Ecstasy, sold in tablets for $20 to $30, is not physically addicting,
but many people are hooked on its psychedelic effects, which include
feelings of peacefulness and acceptance. Ecstasy sometimes is referred
to as the "hug drug" because users experience feelings of closeness
and have desires to touch others.

One ecstasy user, a 25-year-old Hollywood resident, said she has
researched the drug's effects and doesn't think enough studies have
been conducted to deem it dangerous. She uses the drug about six times
a year, she said.

She does ecstasy because of the "euphoric high," she said, and has
never had a bad experience other than vomiting once.

"It's not something I want to do all the time. I see people that
overuse," she said. "It's like they lose their souls after a while."

The Hollywood woman said she always does the drug with friends and
would never promote it for teenagers.

But teenagers across South Florida already have been exposed to
designer drugs, and ecstasy seems to be a favorite.

One 18-year-old from Boca Raton said she first did ecstasy two years
ago with friends, most of them white, upper-to middle-class teenagers.

"Some nights, we'll plan a big night out and we know we need to get
our stuff," she said. "It just depends on how much money we have."

The teenager said she has done ecstasy, cocaine and GHB, but she
doesn't plan to do GHB anymore after seeing one acquaintance overdose.

Parental advisory

Even though she has undergone drug rehabilitation therapy and said she
isn't addicted to ecstasy, the high school senior said, "mentally, you
just keep wanting that feeling.

"It sounds ignorant and stupid, but it's kind of hard to stop," she
said.

Her mother said she missed the signs though she considers herself
educated about drug abuse.

"The thing parents need to realize is to stop looking for typical
signs," said the mother, 44, adding that her daughter has a "B"
average in school.

"This is a serious problem," she said. "People need to wake up. This
isn't going away."

Naples, the therapist, is conducting a "Rave Clubs & Deadly Drugs"
seminar Saturday at the Boca Raton Marriott. She decided to organize
the seminar after hearing shocking stories from several teenagers she
counsels.

"What I found is that many of these adolescents are suffering from
depression," Naples said. "Taking the drugs is one way they feel medicated."

Naples said some parents and educators have never even heard of GHB or
ecstasy.

They don't know the lingo, so if they hear their daughter or son tell
a friend "let's roll tonight," the parent might not know they plan to
do ecstasy. In turn, teenagers aren't aware of the dangers because
only the message "don't drink and don't smoke" has been ingrained into
their heads.

Parents should notice differences in their children's behavior, Naples
said, and they should make a trusting relationship with their
teenagers a priority.

"What to look for isn't so clear as someone lighting up a joint or
drinking alcohol," she said.

One Wellington teenager said he has been doing ecstasy and Special K
for the past three years and his parents are oblivious.

He said most high school students have tried designer drugs at least
once.

"It's like this collective, `Let's do drugs,'" the 18-year-old said.
"Mainstream kids have moved from keg parties to rolling parties."

Even though the Wellington student said he doesn't rule out doing
ecstasy again, he agrees that designer drugs are a threat to young
people.

"But they shouldn't be targeting raves, it's at our schools," he said.
"They shouldn't be targeting something that's weird to them."

Bottcher, from Florida's drug control policy office, said the "rave
culture is largely responsible for a good part of what's happening out
there."

McAfee, the narcotics agent, said that even though club drugs aren't
street-corner drugs, they are easy to find outside raves.

GHB is part of the bar scene in larger cities, he said.

"If you're a college-age individual, you're going to be able to get it
really easy at a bar, just as at a gym you can get steroids."