IRELAND'S ECSTASY ABUSE IS EU WORST

A study of the 15 member states found one in ten mid teen Irish
students used the mind altering rave drug, which can kill first time
users.

The revelation was contained in a report, on the state of young
people's health, published yesterday in Brussels. It comes after
another report, by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction, showed Ireland had the highest rate of drug related deaths
in the EU.

Last week, a joint operation between the Garda National Drugs Unit and
Dutch police smashed a major drugs trafficking ring. Garda sources
said the pounds 8m haul was destined for the Irish market. Among the
drugs seized by Dutch police were 100,000 ecstasy tablets with a
street value of pounds 1.4m; 50 kilos of amphetamines worth pounds
600,000 and cannabis with a value of pounds 6m.

Ireland is followed in ecstasy use by England, Wales and Holland,
which are the only parts of the EU where ecstasy use borders on 10%.

The European Commission report said the number of deaths related to
drugs and substance abuse was increasing in the UK, Ireland, Austria,
Denmark, Greece and Sweden, but falling in Germany, France and Belgium.

Despite claims by pro drug groups that the dangers of ecstasy are
being exaggerated, several Irish people have died from the drug:

* In 1995, 25 year old Michael Ward from Prosperous, County Kildare,
died after ingesting ecstasy;

* Paul Murphy, aged 18, from Mourne Avenue, The Glen, Cork, died from
heart failure following an ecstasy overdose in 1995. He spent eight
days on a life support machine before his heart eventually gave out;

* Brian Scannell, 21, from Clonakilty, County Cork died after taking
ecstasy, for the first time, in a London nightclub in September 1999;

* Dublin teenager Andrew Clearly died after taking two designer
Shamrock e tabs in April 1999. State forensic scientist, Dr Jim
Donovan described the tablets as the most dangerous drug ever sold in
Ireland.

The Director of the Garda Science Laboratory linked ecstasy abuse to
depression, resulting in suicidal tendencies among teenagers.

A 1998 study by Professor Brian Leonard of University College Galway
found that a single dose of ecstasy shut down the body's immune
system, as well as causing depression by depleting serotonin levels in
the brain.

The EU drugs report published yesterday found that cannabis was the
most common illegal drug, while solvents were the second most abused
substances among adolescents. The figures varied from less than 5% in
Belgium to 20% in England and Wales.

England and Wales head the EU table in overall drug abuse among
teenage students, while their use of cannabis and LSD is almost 10
times as high as in Portugal and Finland.