HOME-BASED DRUG LAB 'EXTREMELY UNUSUAL'

HAMPTON -- The home-based hallucinogenic drug lab federal agents raided
Wednesday on Thames Drive doesn't seem to be a sign of a widespread
problem, a federal drug agent said Thursday.

"It's extremely unusual," said Dennis Bolum, Resident Agent-in-Charge for
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Norfolk.

DEA agents raided a lab in a garage attached to a house that was being
actively used to make MDMA, also known as Ecstasy. They charged 21-year-old
Daniel Frank Warfel with attempting to manufacture MDMA, and they seized
glassware, plastic tubes and instructional manuals for making Ecstasy and
crystal methamphetamine.

Bolum said federal agents found only one other MDMA lab in Hampton Roads in
recent years. A Chesapeake couple was arrested last year and charged with
making Ecstasy in a lab in their home. The DEA raided 17 Ecstasy labs in
the United States last year, according to the agency's data.

Ecstasy also known as "E" and "X" is a hallucinogenic party drug, generally
taken orally in the form of a tablet. It may give users a blissful feeling
but can cause dehydration, teeth grinding, heatstroke, fainting and seizures.

Bolum said Warfel purchased some of the chemicals he was using to make
Ecstasy from foreign countries but investigators still are trying to
pinpoint the sources of others.

Some of the chemicals used to make Ecstasy can be acquired legally, but the
substances become illegal when they're mixed.

Dozens of people have been arrested throughout Hampton Roads in recent
years for possessing Ecstasy. Bolum said the source of most of the Ecstasy
seized in possession arrests is overseas in the Netherlands or other
European countries.

"A lot of the Ecstasy was smuggled into the country and funneled down to
distributors," he said.

Warfel is in federal custody and will face a detention hearing this morning
in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. A DEA official said Warfel admitted that
he had been experimenting with making Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine.
Others also may face arrest.

Warfel was purchasing some chemicals through the Internet. However, Bolum
said he didn't seem to be selling the drug over the Internet. Various
Internet sites offer information about Ecstasy, including the chemical
components of the drug and the experiences people have had with it.