DEA TO TARGET ECSTASY RINGS IN 'OPERATION X-OUT'

SAN DIEGO (AP)--Saying teenage use of Ecstasy is reaching "epidemic"
levels, U.S. authorities are planning new efforts to stamp out rings making
and selling club drugs .

The agency also plans to focus new efforts on the Netherlands, which it
says is the source of about 80% of the world's Ecstasy supply.

The Drug Enforcement Administration plans to double the number of club-drug
investigations as part of its "Operation X-Out." Ecstasy is sometimes
called "X." Currently, the DEA says about 5% of its major investigations
involve club drugs .

"The problem clearly is that Ecstasy is the Y generation's cocaine and is
fast becoming the number one drug problem facing the youth of America,"
said Asa Hutchinson, head of the DEA, who detailed the initiative at a
Thursday night news conference.

He said the agency intends to focus new efforts on Internet trafficking and
in the Netherlands, where some 80% of the world's supply originates.
Domestically, the DEA will also step up enforcement in south Florida, the
main entry point for the drug , as well as enhance interdiction efforts at
major U.S. airports.

Hutchinson held up an evidence bag containing powdered Ecstasy that was
confiscated in a Wednesday night raid.

Six people were arrested on drug charges and eight pounds of high quality
Ecstasy were seized. The drug , with an estimated street value of $1.25
million, was found in powder form instead of the commonly seized pills
imported from Europe, adding to growing fears that Ecstasy is increasingly
being produced within the United States, Hutchinson said.

"The explosive use of Ecstasy and predatory drugs among our youth is fast
reaching epidemic levels," he said, adding that Ecstasy use has tripled in
the last two years.

The DEA says 8.1 million Americans 12 and older tried Ecstasy in 2001, up
from 6.5 million the year before.

Nationwide, hospital emergency room cases involving Ecstasy rose to 5,542
last year, up from 637 in 1997, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network.

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a synthetic drug considered part
hallucinogen and part amphetamine that has been linked to brain, heart and
kidney damage. It became popular over the past decade at dance parties
known as raves for the energy and euphoria it gives users.

Hutchinson also said there was a rise in the use of so-called "date-rape"
drugs such as GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, and Rohypnol.