ECSTASY'S UPSURGE

The Danger Of Being Young, Hip, And High

On October 25, U.S. customs agents in Newark, N.J., were inspecting a
1992 BMW that had arrived from Germany on a freighter when they
discovered the gas tank contained fuel of another sort: plastic
bottles packed with nearly 25,000 doses of ecstasy, the hottest
mind-altering drug on the club circuit today. When they went looking
for the source, they ended up arresting four Russians in Columbus,
Ohio.

It's not an isolated case. The U.S. Customs Service has seized close
to 3 million doses of ecstasy this year, a 700 percent increase from
1997. Ecstasy is not a street drug yet--it's a "club drug" with
uncertain effects used by affluent teens and young professionals.
Still, law enforcement officials are worried. "It's a drug that could
hit America very quickly," says Steven Casteel, chief of intelligence
for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA banned ecstasy in
1985 but has been unable to stem the flow from the Netherlands.
Tablets are distributed in the United States by Israeli and Russian
crime syndicates through New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. Last week,
the National Institute on Drug Abuse announced a $16 million increase
in its "club drug" research and education budget.

NIDA's director, Alan Leshner, says he wants to teach youth that "club
drugs are not fun drugs."

Benign Beginning.

But many young Americans believe otherwise.

One night recently, Stewart, a 24-year-old Washington, D.C., resident,
popped a tablet stamped with a "Rolls-Royce" insignia (esctasy
manufacturers use signature logos to promote brand loyalty) and sat
down for what he called a "smooth, luxurious ride." Meanwhile his
buddy Dave swallowed a potent "Ferrari." Soon, all their senses were
heightened. "We were drinking Gatorade, and it was the best Gatorade
we ever had," says Stewart.

Merck, the German pharmaceutical company, created ecstasy in 1912, as
a potential appetite suppressant. Some therapists also used it for
marriage counseling–the "hug drug" creates a feeling of trust and empathy.

But its popularity stems from the tremendous endurance it
generates.

It has found its niche with the advent of "raves," all-night
techno-dance marathons, which hit Europe in the 1980s and the United
States in the 1990s.

The effects of the drug haven't been thoroughly studied.

Ecstasy-related emergency-room admissions, while relatively few,
skyrocketed from 68 in 1993 to 637 in 1997. The drug often seems so
benign that users "don't get any warning signal," says Dr. George
Ricaurte, a Johns Hopkins neurologist. Ricaurte says his research
shows long-term ecstasy use could cause memory loss, sleeplessness,
anxiety, and depression. And British researchers have linked ecstasy
use during pregnancy to a higher rate of birth defects.

But these studies are controversial because of the small numbers of
human subjects. "Overall, the toxicity of this drug appears to be
quite low in most humans," says Dr. John Morgan, a City University of
New York pharmacologist.

Law enforcement officials say the real danger is that ecstasy is
becoming a "gateway" drug, leading to harder drugs.

Miami police detective Eladio Paiz says users often take heroin,
Valium, and other "downers" to lose their ecstasy high. Since 1997, 19
people are believed to have died in Florida after combining party
drugs with alcohol or hard drugs.

Says Jim McDonough, Florida's drug czar, "It's the drug soups that are
killing them."