IN OUR VIEW: ECSTASY USE IN DECLINE

The news was good and bad about the use of the party drug, or club drug,
Ecstasy by teenagers over the last two years. Nearly 2 million teenagers
"tried to kick the habit" last year, Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America, told The Associated Press. That was
reason for cheer.

On the negative side, 75 percent of the adolescents responding to questions
about Ecstasy use are still experimenting with it or are addicted.

The name of the drug is misleading. Ecstasy can carry a high price tag. It
releases a heavy dose of serotonin into the user's system that can cause
brain damage even on first use, according to a Johns Hopkins study, and can
create a feeling of euphoria that blocks what should be warnings. Four years
ago, then-U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri Stephen Hill,
told the Globe's editorial board that a rape victim under the influence of
Ecstasy may know what is happening to her, but may be unable to protest.

Hill's prediction that the drug would become increasingly popular with the
younger set became a reality. Until last year, that is. Then, use of
Ecstasy, as well as other dangerous controlled substances, dropped.

All sorts of reasons can be offered. Indeed, some may see the decline as
simply a temporary, unexplainable blip.

Still, tougher enforcement by authorities and harsher sentences for those
marketing drugs may have had a role. Clearly there was an awakening by many
teens that drugs can kill them or ruin their lives.

Our own unscientific and hopeful view is that moms and dads triggered this
reassessment by their sons and daughters through candid, tough talks about
the dangers of Ecstasy, LSD, methamphetamine and marijuana. Also, parents
who came out of the 1960s and 1970s drug culture may have felt uncomfortable
or even hypocritical in trying to warn their children. If so, it is apparent
that many of them decided that they needed to have that important, even
life-saving conversation.

The drug war isn't over. The good guys may not even be winning. But if one
mother or father saves a single young person from addiction, a
health-threatening experience, rape or death, an important battle will have
been won. It has been said that parents are the first line of defense
against drugs. They also can be the most effective.