MANY YOUNG ATHLETES HAVE TRIED ECSTASY

Oakland Raider Darrell Russell's one-year suspension for testing
positive for Ecstasy is the highest profile case of its kind
involving the drug clinically known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine
(MDMA).

For pro sports and the popular club drug, it was only a matter of time.

A national expert on athlete drug prevention has conducted surveys
that find 15 to 20 percent of high school athletes have tried
Ecstasy. Those numbers are backed up by government data on regular
student use, which generally mirrors use by athletes.

"We're really trying to deal with it now," said drug prevention
expert Michael Hall. "Kids don't know the harm they're doing."

Hall, the principal at Cincinnati's Anderson High School, started a
successful national drug prevention program in 1983 and is a
consultant with the Drug Enforcement Agency. He said that Ecstasy
"really came on" at his Ohio school a year ago.

Hall now includes it on the list of drugs that coaches need to teach
athletes about. Alcohol and marijuana remain the most popular drugs
among teens, but "Ecstasy is being used more than the hard stuff,"
Hall said.

Though links between Ecstasy and professional athletes remain rare,
they're no longer unprecedented.

July, 1999 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Demetrius DuBose was
killed by San Diego police after a scuffle outside his apartment.
Traces of alcohol, cocaine and Ecstasy were found in his blood. It is
not known if those substances influenced his behavior.

December, 2000 - New England Patriots defensive back Ty Law was
stopped at the Canadian border with Ecstasy. Law said the drugs
weren't his. He was suspended for the season finale and fined $700 by
authorities.

June, 2001 - Retired Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin was
indicted after being found with marijuana and Ecstasy. Charges were
dismissed because the search was conducted without a warrant. Irvin
says the drugs were not his.

December, 2001 - Federal agents search retired Hall of Famer O.J.
Simpson's home on Dec. 4 as part of an investigation into an Ecstasy
drug ring. Simpson was not arrested.

Russell's infraction is the third of his five-year NFL career, which
warrants him a one-year suspension. Word of the suspension was made
public Sunday and Russell appealed the ruling on Thursday.

This is the first year the NFL is testing for Ecstasy.

The drug has increased in popularity among teens over the last
decade. It's no surprise Ecstasy has become popular with adults too,
experts say.

"When younger people start using it, everyone starts using it with
time. It's simple arithmetic," said Jerry Frankenheim, a
pharmacologist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Rockville,
Md.

For athletes, Ecstasy is a drug that provides almost no competitive
edge and only long-term headaches.

As many on the club scene know, Ecstasy, or X, is a mood-altering
drug taken in pill form that lowers inhibitions, increases sexual
arousal, produces positive feelings and suppresses the need to eat,
drink or sleep. Users say that enables them to party for two or three
days.

Short-term effects include nausea, sweating, increased body
temperature and, in rare cases, kidney failure, heart failure and
death. Long-term effects include the risk of permanent brain damage
that can lead to depression, anxiety, memory loss and other psychotic
disorders.

Experts say it might appeal to some athletes as an appetite
suppressant and painkiller, but they say the drug's side effects far
outweigh the rewards. Mostly it's a party drug, one that experts are
not sure is addictive but led to 4,511 emergency room visits
nationwide in the year 2000.

"It started as a club drug, but it's finding new populations,"
Frankenheim said.

On the Web: www.nida.nih.gov; www.samhsa.gov; www.nfl.com