COMEDOWN - THE ECSTASY FALLOUT

Britain's Half-million Pill-poppers Could Face After-Effects That Last A
Lifetime.

Staring intently in the dim light, the music rocking his body, James
snapped the little white tablet in two. Pressed against the wall, his back
sheltering them from the dancing crowds, he took half for himself and gave
half to his girlfriend. They swallowed, and the weekend's clubbing started.

'It makes you feel so positive about everyone and everything. You feel so
open - you can talk to strangers like they are your closest friends. You
feel so sensual, so tactile. I want to touch people's skin, stroke their
clothes. And I want to dance, dance, dance,' gushed James. 'It's the best,
the most positive experience in my life. It's life-enhancing.' Or it could
be the opposite. New figures from the National Programme on Substance Abuse
Deaths show that the number of people who died after taking ecstasy has
jumped two-thirds in the past year to 27. Another survey last week, in a
magazine for clubbers, suggested ecstasy users were a quarter more likely
to suffer mental health problems.

James is one of the half a million people - almost one in 100 of us - who
regularly use ecstasy in Britain. Supporters claim it is less dangerous
than alcohol and tobacco if used sensibly but doctors warn it could be
storing up a time bomb of mental illness as Generation E gets older.

The debate is intensifying, with both sides trying to score points as
pressure grows on the Government to downgrade ecstasy from a class A drug
like heroin to class B like cannabis, severely reducing the penalties for
possession. Police groups have said that if the drug can be shown to have a
limited effect on health, then it should be downgraded. Unlike alcohol, it
is not associated with violence, and there is no strong link with crime as
is the case with heroin. If ecstasy is proved to be safe, the Government
will be unlikely to resist calls to downgrade it.

By 3am, three hours before closing time, the nightclub bars were shut:
James and his fellow clubbers were not interested in alcohol. On the dance
floor the crowds mesmerised themselves, writhing to hypnotic music. In the
chill-out rooms, they talked, sat silent, lay down or held heads in hands.
'Your eyebrows have turned into caterpillars - they're crawling over your
face,' said one worried girl. 'I don't like it. Am I hallucinating?' By
6am, there were just a few left, mostly on their own, lying in another
world, staring blankly.

The drug takers are likely to spend most of the next day sleeping, and
surveys show that four out of five of them could suffer mild depression -
the ecstasy blues - throughout much of the following week. They could also
- - like those 27 people last year - end up dead, killed by dehydration,
overheating, drinking too much water, heart attack or stroke. Leah Betts,
the 18-year-old who died at her birthday party, was the first to make
headlines in 1995. Last year's toll includes Robert Lowe, who died of a
heart attack at his twenty-first birthday party in Birmingham in January,
closely followed by Julie Sumner at another Birmingham nightclub. 'Pure
ecstasy is a very dangerous substance. Just one pill can kill you,' said
Peter Stoker, director of the National Drug Prevention Alliance.

Professor John Henry, a clinical toxicologist at St Mary's Hospital,
London, said: 'All the deaths are particularly tragic because they are
young, they are not hardened drug addicts - they were trying to have a good
time, and they didn't even take an overdose.'

But then Henry reaches a rather surprising conclusion: 'All these deaths
get far more publicity than they're worth. Given that half a million people
use the drug, the great majority experience no problems.'

Indeed, despite the headlines, ecstasy deaths are rare - just 2.2 per cent
of the total drug related deaths. Government figures show that heroin
killed 754 people in 1999, while cocaine killed 87. Each year hundreds of
thousands are killed by the effects of alcohol and tobacco.

Mat Southwell of the Dance Drugs Alliance, which campaigns for education
about how to enjoy drugs safely, said: 'Research shows the chance of dying
each time you take ecstasy is one in a million - that's the same as
downhill skiing.' Danny Kushlick, director of Transform, which campaigns
for the legalisation of all drugs, said: 'You are more likely to die of a
peanut allergy.'

While the number of deaths from heroin and cocaine has nearly tripled in
the past five years, the number killed by ecstasy has stayed fairly
constant. Far fewer people took ecstasy in 1994 than in 1999, yet more
people died from it.

'We see very few people in hospital with ecstasy problems nowadays ,' said
Henry. 'People are now used to the effects of ecstasy and know how to deal
with it. You can drive the number of deaths down by taking precautions, but
some people will always still die.'

Southwell insists that by educating users, and with co-operation from
nightclubs, all deaths can be avoided. 'There is no such thing as a killer
pill - it's a myth. People die because they can no longer tell when they
are too hot or too thirsty - they die from dehydration, overheating or
drinking too much water.'

Deaths can be minimised by testing tablets for impurities, making water
freely available, educating users to drink regular modest amounts (about a
pint an hour) and by making sure nightclubs are well ventilated and not too
crowded. 'In Holland the police and nightclubs work together to reduce the
risks. They even test the pills and allow people only to take in three to
the club. And last year they had no ecstasy deaths for the first time,'
said Southwell.

But Henry believes the focus on ecstasy deaths hides another danger: 'It's
a distraction from the real risk of ecstasy, which is its long-term
effects, causing such things as memory loss and depression.'

At the University of East London, Andy Parrott has conducted extensive
research and is convinced that ecstasy has severe short-term and long-term
psychological effects. 'The more you use, the more you suffer memory
problems. One in five novice users suffer memory loss, while almost
three-quarters of heavy users do. Depression is another big problem - it is
increased even in former moderate users,' he said.

Ecstasy works by stimulating serotonin production in the brain but in so
doing damages the ability of the brain to produce serotonin in the future.
People with low serotonin levels are likely to be depressed, and commit
suicide. There are also fears - so far not backed up by evidence - that
ecstasy may damage the nervous system so badly that it could lead to
premature Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

Southwell thinks there is little danger: 'We're in the second and third
generation of people taking ecstasy, but where are the long-term health
problems?'

Parrott is convinced there are long-term effects. He is studying one man
who was a heavy user until he suffered such severe sleep problems,
depression, memory loss and sexual dysfunction that he was forced to give
up. Seven years later, he still suffers the same problems. 'It's the
clearest case we have that the effects last a long time. With most drugs,
if you stop taking them you get recovery. But with ecstasy, the damage is
probably long-lasting.'

Henry also warns that it is still too early to see any effects that take 10
or 20 years to build up. He concludes: 'We shouldn't decriminalise it or
encourage wider use until we really know it is safe.'