'SPAGHETTI LEGS' ASIDE, ECSTASY 'SCREWS WITH YOUR BRAIN'

This is the first in a series of stories exploring the Peterborough
presence, and use, of the mind-altering drug Ecstasy, related through the
experiences of users and abusers, drug counselors, and police.

In this story, the names are fictitious but the experiences related are as
they happened.

William came to with needles stuck into his body and suction cups attached
to his skin. Tubes had been shoved down his throat to the pit of his
stomach in a bid to suck poison from his system.

William was awake the entire time but he doesn't remember the doctors and
nurses pouring over him as they tried to save the local teen from dying of
a drug overdose.

That was the last time William, 17, would take Ecstasy, or any drug for
that matter. The experience, he says, scared him straight; a vow reinforced
the week immediately after when all he did was sleep.

That August night, William put aside his Ecstasy pills in favour of new
drug, PCP.

"That night, the dust we got had a yellow tinge. It's usually white. I had
no reluctance to try it.

"I didn't realize something was wrong. I was lying in a parking lot. I
don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the hospital."

The week following his overdose, William thought something was seriously
wrong. He says he felt "retarded."

"A lot of the time, I couldn't go to bed or I'd try to stay awake to watch
a movie and would pass out for hours."

It was during his recovery that William realized Ecstasy and other drugs
had ruined his life. However, William's change-of-heart doesn't mirror that
of at least one of his peers.

Doug, 16, attributes a number of physical problems to his use of Ecstasy
but plans to continue his use.

Doug's eyes are tinged yellow, his jaw cracks when he opens his mouth, a
hump is forming on his shoulders and he suffers from constant back pain.
"By the time I'm 35, I'm going to be a crusty-ass, burn-out or in a
wheelchair," predicts Doug.

"With what I've done, I'm going to have bad side-effects. I might as well
have fun until I get like that."

Last summer, Doug popped 187 Ecstasy pills in 70 days, often taking two or
three at a time. He says the effects of the hallucinogen take hold in about
45 minutes to an hour. When he smokes a joint, the drug, he has discovered,
works much quicker.

"I can tell I'm high by my legs; they feel weird. I have spaghetti legs.
"Then you get happy and energetic. It's like speed but not really. It has
some of the same qualities."

Doug was 13 years old the first time he used Ecstasy. He was in a friend's
basement and didn't realize where he was after swallowing the tiny pill. It
wasn't until his 15th birthday that he tried it again.

"Between my 15th and 16th birthday, I did it every Friday night," Doug
says. His last trip was Nov. 7 while he was at school. He remembers a mass
of students around and not being able to stop talking.

"We were watching a movie and I kept shaking and taking bathroom breaks but
I didn't get caught," he adds with a smile.

Excessive shaking is just one effect of Ecstasy. Others effects include
constant chewing, a strong thirst and a longing to be touched. Doug says
you have to keep your jaw moving or it will cease up. He's also been told
the drug drains spinal fluid which makes you thirsty.

"I usually bring a backpack with four one-litre bottles of water and keep
filling them up," says Doug.

William recalls one trip during which he chewed the cap off a pop bottle
until it became paste.

"I like the physical contact. When someone touches you, it amplifies...you
can feel it so much more," adds William.

"It just screws with your brain the whole time."

Ecstasy, known medically as MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), is a
synthetic drug with hallucinogenic-like properties.

According to a drug resource web site, Ecstasy was introduced in the late
1960s and was nicknamed STP, an acronym for "Serenity, Tranquillity and
Peace." Today, the pills are produced in underground labs and sold with
different logos printed on the surface. Some logos are those of well-known
companies like Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, McDonald's, Calvin Klein and Playboy.

The drug remained hidden for a number of years until massive parties, or
raves, flooded by thousands of young people, became popular. Users commonly
take the pills and dance all night as a result of the immediate energy
effect. Still other teens take the drug while socializing with friends in a
bid to escape reality.

But no matter how it's used, or where, its effects can be fatal. In
December, Nicole Malik, 17, died in a Toronto Internet cafe after allegedly
overdosing on Ecstasy. Friends tried to revive the teen after noticing
Nicole slumped over on a couch but it was too late. Nicole is now just
another statistic. Since 1998, Ecstasy has claimed the lives of 20 people
in Ontario, according to a Toronto newspaper report. A Time magazine
article explains Ecstasy hits nerve cells that produce serotonin, a brain
chemical that transmits signals from one nerve to the next.

The release of serotonin by these nerve cells may be responsible for the
over-excited feeling caused by Ecstasy. But the feeling doesn't last, says
Doug.

"You hit your peak and kind of come down and you're still buzzing for a
couple of hours. The last hour you get paranoid," he describes. "Then it
just cuts off."

William says the day after taking Ecstasy is the worst. His mind, he says,
feels "sketchy."

"It's really cloudy. It's almost like you're in a dream."

He now hopes to never feel like that again. William has sworn off drug use
since his overdose as his mom Anne gives him much-needed support. She says
she had no idea William was heavily involved with drugs until she got the
call from the hospital that August night.

"I saw him the next day and started yelling at him and realized it wasn't
helping, so I calmed down," she recalls.

"I told him I loved him and that we have to work at it."

Their now very open relationship, evident when This Week sat down with
them, will help William break his habit, even though he enjoyed the
feelings Ecstasy evoked.

What advice does Anne give other parents?

"I'm very open...it's the only way you can be," she says.

"A lot of parents don't think their kids do it. They put it aside. Pay more
attention to your kids. They aren't mature enough to realize what can
happen. It takes one bad pill."

Next Wednesday, a look at how serious Ecstasy use is in Peterborough
through the experiences of local addiction counselor Kelly
MacPherson-Mazda. Also, learn of one man's plight as he battled his
addiction and where he got help.