WARNING FROM THE ER: ECSTASY USE IS 'EXPLODING'

The "Feel-Good" Drug Is Spreading From Urban Centers To Small Communities,
Parents Are Told.

Parents should be wary, not relieved, when their teen-agers go to
alcohol-free dances called raves, an emergency room doctor said Tuesday
night during a program on the spreading use of the drug ecstasy.

"Red lights should go off," Dr. Larry DesRochers, medical director of the
emergency room and intensive care unit at Community Medical Center in Toms
River, said during the program at Princeton High School.

And the reason is that while alcohol is not served, club drugs like ecstasy
are readily available, Dr. DesRochers said. While ecstasy once was used by
older teens and young adults, children as young as 10 are now starting to
use it, he told the audience of approximately 100 persons.

"I just heard there's a lot of it," said one parent in the audience who
refused to give her name. "It's around."

Another parent, Nancy Papier of Princeton Borough, explained why she came
to the program: "I have two students in the school system."

When asked if she thought her children would use ecstasy, Ms. Papier said,
"I hope not."

Ecstasy was once confined to large urban centers on the East and West
coasts, but its use is spreading to smaller communities, according to
Street Drugs, a magazine-like drug identification guide that was handed out
at Tuesday's program.

It is called the "feel-good" drug and users say it relaxes them. It also
suppresses the need to eat, drink or sleep, which enables club scene users
to keep partying for days.

Taken orally in tablet or capsule form, its effects last about four to six
hours.

But it can cause a rapid heart beat, high blood pressure, faintness,
hypothermia, muscle cramping, panic attacks and nausea, loss of
consciousness or seizures.

It also can cause permanent loss of memory.

Dr. DesRochers said ecstasy causes users to grind their teeth and parents
should get suspicious if their teens suck on pacifiers, hard candy or
lollipops. He also said ecstasy is often kept in eye droppers, Tic Tac
boxes and Pez dispensers.

After Dr. DesRochers spoke, the Princeton Alcohol & Drug Alliance's Teen
Advisory Group presented two skits depicting the dangers of ecstasy use at
raves and at home.

The program was sponsored by the alliance, Corner House counseling center,
area parent-teacher organizations and Princeton University Health Services.

Brian Doherty, special agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency's
Camden office, which handles Mercer County, explained that a tablet of
ecstasy costs 50 cents to produce and sells for $25.

He showed a video of a 21-year-old woman who had used ecstasy for several
years. "She has the mind of a 65-year-old Alzheimer's victim," Mr. Doherty
said.

"If you're a parent, this stuff should scare you. It scares me," he said.

"It's not a Camden problem. It's not a Pennsauken problem. It's not a shore
problem," Mr. Doherty said. "This stuff is exploding."