DUKE: ECSTASY USE ON CAMPUS NOT BIG PROBLEM

DURHAM -- There's no evidence of rampant ecstasy abuse at Duke
University, officials said three days after Durham police arrested two
students for possessing chemicals to make the drug.

On Tuesday, police searched a dorm room and charged the residents,
sophomores Levi Stephen Karnehm, 20, and Evan Matthew Beard, 19, with
possession of a precursor to manufacture, sell or deliver a controlled
substance. Police said they received a tip that the students had
ordered chemicals needed to manufacture ecstasy.

The students were released this week after posting bail. Along with
proceeding through the judicial system, the two face an investigation
by the Office of Student Affairs.

This isn't the first time Duke has come into contact with the
suspected presence of ecstasy, said Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice
president for student affairs.

But if the drug's popularity is rapidly increasing on campus, it
hasn't come to the attention of campus officials and drug educators,
she said.

"It's very difficult to know [whether it's a problem]," Wasiolek said.
"Drug use continues to be a very discreet activity."

Duke regularly participates in a survey sponsored by the Core
Institute. The organization, based at Southern Illinois University,
surveys colleges and universities in an attempt to measure drug and
alcohol use among students. In the most recent survey, Wasiolek said,
Duke was around the national average when it came to drug use.

"That's not to say we're pleased," she said. "But we didn't seen any
red flags, at least in the drug area, the last time we did the survey."

Use of ecstasy by teens and college students has exploded in the last
five years, said Cynthia Kuhn, a professor of pharmacology at Duke who
does research on psychoactive drugs like ecstasy.

The drug came on the scene in the late 1980s. By the late 1990s,
ecstasy was pervasive dance clubs, parties and the all-night dance
parties known as raves. The drug provides increased sensitivity to
sensory perception, Kuhn said, making it popular for social settings
with crowds of people.

"It makes people feel good - being touched feels good," she
said.

The drug stimulates the cardiovascular system and raises body
temperature. But sometimes, body temperature can be raised to the
point where it leads to organ failure and death.

Researchers haven't found the drug to be highly addictive, Kuhn said.
They are still trying to determine the long-term effects of use, which
are suspected to include memory loss and sleeping problems.

Some Duke students interviewed said they were surprised to hear about
Tuesday's ecstasy bust. They said they hadn't come across the drug on
campus.

"I was shocked when I read about it," said Duke senior Alicia Swingle.
"I would've expected it to be marijuana or something."

Even though statistics show college students are among the prime users
of the drug, sophomore Jessica Batzell said it doesn't fit into Duke's
party scene.

Instead of raves and dance clubs, Duke students are known to frequent
fraternity parties.

"The fraternity scene and ecstasy don't necessarily go hand in hand,"
Batzell said. "It's more keg beer."

But sophomore Katie Hindman said ecstasy has a presence at
Duke.

"It definitely exists at parties," she said.

But use, in her opinion, is not widespread, she added.

Kuhn helps out with drug education efforts at Duke. She gives
presentations to resident assistants and students in residence halls.

"My sense is it's really unusual for here," she said.

Freshman students are educated on the dangers of alcohol, marijuana
and ecstasy during their orientation.

Wasiolek said there are no plans to increase efforts to educate
students on the drug, apart from what already exists.

"It depends on what we continue to learn about its prevalence," she
said.

Ecstasy use in the whole state is on the rise, said Bill Woessner, an
agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Greensboro.

But manufacture of the drug - what the two students at Duke were
suspected to be involved in - has not been the problem, he said.

"What has been the problem in our area is abuse," Woessner
said.