Pubdate: Sun, 08 Oct 2000
Source: Portsmouth Herald (NH)
Website: http://www.seacoastonline.com/
Address: 111 Maplewood Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Contact:  2000 Seacoast Online
Fax: (603) 427-0550
Author: Susan Nolan

ALL THE 'RAVE' - DANCE PARTIES PROMOTE DRUGS

Newmarket police and agents from the N.H. Attorney General's Office Drug
Task Force arrested a man two weeks ago in connection with selling Ecstasy.
They arrested another suspect on possession of the drug.

Kingston police last month broke up what they call an Ecstasy drug ring.

A former police officer, who committed suicide and whose body was found in
an Atkinson home in July, had Ecstasy in his body at the time of his death.

Dover police and state drug agents made several Ecstasy busts in that city
early this summer, closing down a "rave," a special dance party that
promotes Ecstasy and other psychedelic drugs.

The numbers of Ecstasy pills seized by drug agents in southern New Hampshire
are off the charts. Seizures have increased from just two Ecstasy pills
three years ago to more than 879 pills this year, with more seizures and
undercover buys expected before the year's end.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves, pretty much," said an undercover
agent for the drug task force. "It makes you wonder how much else is out
there that we're not getting."

Virtually all of the purchases and seizures made by drug agents have been in
southern New Hampshire, in the Manchester-to-Portsmouth corridor, they say.
Few Ecstasy buys or seizures have been made in the northern tier of the
state.

After two Ecstasy pills were seized in 1997, task force agents saw no more
of the drug until 1998 when they seized 273 pills.

"September of '98 was the first actual purchase," she said. Last year, 1999,
task force drug agents seized or purchased another 426 pills. This year's
879 pills represent only the first eight months of the year 2000. These
numbers do not include Ecstasy that has been confiscated by local police
without the help of the drug task force.

"Some of them can be large purchases and some can be as little as one," she
said.

The drug, said another agent, is a small pill manufactured for as little as
$1 apiece. Pills sell for between $10 and $20 on the street, and are sold at
raves for $25 a pill or more.

"First of all, it's a small pill. One dose lasts for hours, so you're
getting a lot of bang for your buck," she said.

It is called the "hug drug" because it reportedly gives users a feeling of
community and a sense of camaraderie. "It's very touchy feely. They want to
hug everybody. They think life's terrific," she said. All of their senses
are heightened while under the drug's influence.

Then, too, there's the issue of getting caught. The risk factors with a tiny
pill are far less than with other types of drugs such as marijuana. Ecstasy
pills are small and easy to hide and have no drug paraphernalia associated
with them.

The pills come in different colors and are stamped with various insignia and
trademarks.

"They might be white with Tweetie birds," said the drug task force agent.
Other have apples or other markings. Some are red.

"I've seen some the color of an eraser that had a fish stamped on them. I
bought a marbled pill with the fish and I was told by my informant that it
actually was cut with heroin. These kids don't know what the heck is in
them."

"Ecstasy is a psycho-active drug that possesses a stimulant and a mild
hallucinogenic property," she said. "The music and the lights (at raves)
enhance the property (of the drug)."

While many pills make their way into the country from as far away as
Amsterdam and Israel, where Ecstasy is manufactured by the Russian Mafia,
say agents, other pills come from unknown sources.

New Hampshire's supply is making its way here from New York, via
Massachusetts, but the origin of most Ecstasy pills found in the Seacoast is
unknown, law enforcement officials say. Some pills are made in makeshift
home laboratories.

"You get some yo-yo putting it together in the cellar," said one agent.
Then, too, there are recipes for Ecstasy on the Internet.

The frightening part about them, agents say, is that kids who have never
used drugs before are popping Ecstasy pills, and the drug is becoming
popular among junior high and high school students.

"Pot is still a big thing, but this isn't your typical pot smoker," she
said. "I don't think you can come up with a prototype of the kid that is
using Ecstasy. There are wealthy kids and poor kids. Kids that are trouble
and kids that are not in trouble."

What is equally upsetting, agents say, is that kids who attend raves are
being robbed beyond belief. The cost of entrance to a rave, an all-night
drug dance party, is about $25. On top of that, the cost of one Ecstasy pill
can be up to $30 at the party. "At $25 to $30 bucks a pill, if you're
packing 600 people into a room ... that's a lot of money," the agent said.

And because the drug affects the body's thermostat, kids over-dance and
overheat. As a result, the promoters of the raves sell the kids water at a
cost of $4 to $6 a bottle. The kids purchase and drink them all night long.

In addition, said the agent, kids purchase glow sticks from the promoters
and they attach them to various parts of their bodies. Glow sticks can cost
$1.50 or more.

"They buy them. They have them on their hands. They have halos. We had one
kid who had his nipples pierced. It's freaky looking. They're high on
drugs," she said.

Some of the kids walk around with pacifiers in their mouths because the drug
causes grinding of the teeth. Others put Vicks VapoRub in nose inhalers to
enhance the high. Others wear surgical masks with the Vicks inside, she
said.

"You watch these kids walking around with glow sticks all over their heads
with surgical masks on with glow sticks in their mouths, with pacifiers,"
she said. "You're not talking just one. There are groups of kids walking
around like this. That's the norm. Who figured all this out, I don't know.
Where did it come from?"

Agents say users get a four-to six-hour high from an Ecstasy pill. And while
there have been no Ecstasy-related deaths reported yet in New Hampshire,
both children and adults using the drug have suffered collapses while under
the drug's influence. There were several teens transported to the hospital
from the Dover rave last summer. At least one teen was transported to a
local hospital from a Seacoast roller-skating rink after collapsing from the
drug use.

"They don't care what they're putting in their system," said the undercover
agent. "They have no concept what it will do to them. Some people will put
anything together and sell it as Ecstasy."

And while she admits there have as yet been no deaths in New Hampshire, it
is only one pill and a dead body away, she says, noting that there have been
deaths in other parts of the country from the use of Ecstasy laced with
other substances.

While some raves take place out of public view and tend to be large private
parties, public raves, such as the one in Dover last summer, are put
together by professional promoters.

"These raves are very well organized," said the agent. When they are closed
up in one location, they tend to pop up in new locations. They take their
entire staff with them. They advertise. They have promotional brochures and
fliers. It's not like a handwritten piece of paper stuck to somebody's
windshield."

"You can't say all of them have drugs," she said. Still, drugs are usually a
part of the scene.

"It's extremely manipulative. These people are promoting these things for
the purpose of selling drugs. The drug dealing is organized in a lot of
them. You get people showing up who are selling. Then you have others where
the purpose of selling these parties is to sell your products."

Those include the water and the glow sticks.

But the kids are on a high and they don't get it.

"They are totally accepting, but the bottom line is it's manipulative money.
It's completely feeding off these kids. They're feeling accepted. They're
having grand-old time all night long. What they don't realize is who's
laughing at the top of the totem pole," the agent said.

"It's amazing how many of these kids are sucked into it," she said. Many who
follow the raves come from across the country. The rave in Dover included
teens from as far away as New York City. It's like following the Grateful
Dead. It's like cult-type things."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Don Beck