THE HAZARDS OF ECSTASY

MUKILTEO -- If a teenager is sucking on a pacifier, chewing candy necklaces
and playing with glowing light sticks, they may be engaged in harmless
child's play. Or they may be taking deadly club drugs.

Ed Kunigonis, special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative
Service and a Mukilteo parent, briefed parents at Kamiak High School
Thursday night about the dangers of club drugs.

Kunigonis told them where kids take these drugs, their effects and what
signs to look for, all to better equip them to deal with possible drug use.

Ultimately, being engaged and communicating with children is the best tool,
Kunigonis said.

"You've got to be talking with your kids -- and at an early age," he said.

Parent Peggy Labhun was there to get that early start. Her children are in
seventh and 10th grades, but she wanted to learn how to handle the
situation if she ever suspected they were taking drugs.

"I feel I need to know what's going on with drugs today so I can recognize
it right away and do something about it," she said.

She rated her current level of knowledge of club drugs as "pretty low."

"I've heard about the ones that they put in drinks to drug girls," she said.

Club drugs include MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, Ketamine and Rohpynol (the
so-called date rape drug). Kunigonis said they are called club drugs
because of their prevalence at nightclubs and all-night dance parties, or
"raves."

"I've never gone to a rave when I didn't see the place ankle deep in
narcotics," he said. "They're like an open-air drug market."

The intended effect of these drugs is to bring on euphoria by either
stimulating or depressing the user's senses. Kunigonis said too often the
actual result is death or severe brain damage.

Kunigonis showed the parents a video called "Lynn's Brain," which
documented the effects of long-term Ecstasy use.

The 40-plus parents in attendance gasped collectively at the multi-image
brain scan that showed a young woman's brain riddled with holes, literally
eaten away by the use of Ecstasy. The holes marked dead areas with little
or no activity showing on the scan.

Kunigonis has no hard data on how many youths in the Mukilteo School
District use club drugs, but from talking with teachers, parents, students
and counselors, he has learned that they are used at school-sanctioned
events such as dances and parties.

"The fact that there are any is of concern," he said.

So what should parents be looking for?

Items considered drug paraphernalia include Binkies, or pacifiers, which
are used to counteract the reflexive jaw-clenching caused by Ecstasy use.
Also, he said parents should watch for menthol petroleum jellies, candy
necklaces, and glow-in-the-dark sticks, which appeal to the heightened
sight, smell and taste senses of Ecstasy users.

"Every one of the senses is piqued to a higher state when under the
influence of Ecstasy," Kunigonis said.

Ecstasy is often smuggled into dances hidden in Pez containers, mint tins
and lip balm tubes.

After the briefing, Labuhn said she felt better prepared to talk with her
children about drugs, but she was surprised at much of what she heard.

"What I heard was pretty scary," she said.

Some of the items on the paraphernalia list were also a surprise.

"I had no idea about the Binkies."