ECSTASY PROJECT ROLLS THROUGH MISS.

New ground is being broken in the drug prevention field according to
one university professor.

Harvey Palmer, assistant professor of political science, has worked at
the university for four years as the director of the Social Science
Research lab. His specialty is survey research, which he applies to
the new Ecstasy Prevention Project.

Palmer is responsible for evaluation drug survey data for the
Mississippi Department of Health in a variety of interrelated
prevention projects geared towards adolescents in middle school
through college. The most recent of these projects is the Ecstasy
Prevention Project, which deals in preventing club drugs in southern
Mississippi.

Still, all of these projects share a common thread -- they target the
reasons an adolescent does drugs and attempt to educate the public.
The project will be based on surveys taken by students. The surveys
will be completely confidential and the applicants are not obligated
to finish the entire survey, though prompts will encourage the student
to fill it out completely. Palmer said he believes since the results
are confidential, people are more inclined to be truthful.

"The best strategy for sincerity is confidentiality, and knowledge
that the information you submit will benefit a greater cause," he
said. "Though people may lie on a survey, the lies are usually random
and do not fit with the majority of data."

The project will be administered through educational programs and the
survey information will be distributed to other youth organizations.
Because the main purpose of the Ecstasy Prevention Project is to
educate, law enforcement is not involved with the program. The Ecstasy
Prevention Project is more concerned with determining the reasons
adolescents do drugs than how they obtain them.

"The reasons people do drugs vary," said Palmer, "However, there are
some common factors that increase the likelihood to abuse drugs. These
factors include alienation, lack of self-esteem and family strife. In
other words, the main reason for abusing drugs is to escape from reality."

The worry of the Ecstasy Prevention Project is that drug use will
magnify these problems.

"There is not only physical damage at stake here, but also legal
damage," said Palmer, "Being caught with Ecstasy could result in
serious legal action."

The goal of the project is to reduce club drug use by teaching
adolescents coping skills, self-esteem and awareness. However, Palmer
also recognizes that some adolescent experiment with drugs like
Ecstasy for recreational reasons.

"A common mentality among the young is a feeling of invincibility
coupled with a desire to try new things," Palmer said. "Though there
is no solid evidence of long-term impact on teens who experiment with
club drugs, all drugs retard development in some way, either
physically or mentally by inhibiting ambition and drive.

"I am not saying that if someone tries drugs their life will be
instantly ruined, but drugs definitely affect productivity and
concentration."

Palmer explained the heavy emphasis on Ecstasy.

"The types of drugs used reflect the income and trends for a
particular social group," Palmer said. "Times and trends change along
with what is attractive and available.

"Currently, the trend in southern Mississippi, an area which includes
the Gulf Coast, includes club drugs like Ecstasy."

When asked a similar question about drug trends, an anonymous student
gave a similar answer; however, the student disagreed with Palmer's
goal of drug prevention.

"Ecstasy is not really that big of a problem anymore, now that the
rave scene has disappeared," he said

"Anyway, I do not even see the point in preventing it if it was. If
you wanted to prevent drug abuse, the time to do it was a long time
ago, when people first started making the stuff."

Palmer, however, is very optimistic about the project. The pilot
programs are going to start in colleges and community colleges across
southern Mississippi.

The program will be funded by a $300,000 government grant from the
Alcohol and Drug Abuse division of the Mississippi Department of
Mental Health. Palmer believes his method is sound.

"The purpose of the project is to prevent not enforce," Palmer said.
"I believe the program will be a great success."