ORGANIZATION EDUCATES TEENS ON DANGERS OF DRUGS

Dear Editor,

Your Dec. 8 overview of designer drugs listed the possible harms associated
with the drug ecstasy, but failed to direct readers to organizations like
DanceSafe.org that help educate users on how to best avoid them.

With more than one in 10 high school seniors trying ecstasy, it's
imperative that teenagers are fully informed.

Many youths don't take "just say no" school-based programs seriously,
doubting the validity of their information. What's needed is reality-based
drug education that promotes the ideal of abstinence while providing a
fallback strategy of honest, science-based education for students who say
maybe, sometimes or yes.

The good news is the short-term risks of ecstasy are preventable. The bad
news is Congress is pushing dangerous legislation known as the RAVE Act
that would penalize dance clubs that provide harm reduction education and
water designed to prevent ecstasy-related heatstroke, a potentially
life-threatening concern.

Sacrificing more children at the alter of the failed drug war is not in
America's best interest. While European nations have largely abandoned the
drug war in favor of harm reduction alternatives, our so-called leaders ar
seemingly intent on maximizing the harm associated with illicit drug use.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.