Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jan 2001
Source: Daily Herald (IL)
Copyright: 2001 The Daily Herald Company
Contact:  P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006-0280
Fax: (847) 427-1301
Website: http://www.dailyherald.com/
Author:  Christy Gutowski, Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

TOUGH LAWS AGAINST 'CLUB DRUGS' PROPOSED

In the wake of three suburban teens' fatal overdoses, lawmakers are
prescribing stiffer prison terms for dealers who peddle so-called
"club drugs."

Illinois House Republican Leader Lee Daniels introduced a measure
Friday that puts the sale of club drugs such as Ecstasy on the same
level as cocaine, heroin and LSD.

The proposal also makes it easier for prosecutors to charge dealers
with drug-induced homicide should a death result from their illegal
drug sales.

DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett first approached Daniels
with the proposed crackdown after noting a 20 percent increase in
prosecutions dealing with such drugs in the past three years.

Nationally, the use of Ecstasy, the most popular club drug, has
doubled among teens since 1995, officials said.

"Our children are being told this is a harmless drug," Daniels said.
"Tragically, law enforcement officials can tell you a very different
story. They know the truth."

The proposed law comes on the heels of a year filled with tragedy and
club-drug related arrests in the Chicago suburbs.

Last May, three suburban teens died in separate instances after taking
the Ecstasy look-alike PMA - a toxic hallucinogen that hadn't surfaced
in the United States in decades.

The victims are Steve Lorenz, 17, of McHenry; Sara Aeschlimann, 18, of
Naperville; and Jason Burnett, 20, of Lisle.

Also in May, Palatine and Cook County sheriff's police arrested 11
people on charges of selling Ecstasy to undercover officers at a
nightclub. The majority of accused dealers, who ranged in age from 17
to 20, live in the suburbs.

"One of the reasons for the rapid increase in the use and sale of this
drug is the disparity in the criminal penalties for Ecstasy and
similar hallucinogenic drugs like LSD," Birkett said.

Under the proposed law, the sale of 15 or more grams of club drugs
such as Ecstasy is made a Class X felony, punishable by six to 30
years in prison.

Existing laws allow a drug dealer convicted of selling less than 900
doses of such drugs to possibly receive probation. Though such pills
are sold in Europe for pennies, dealers are pushing them on suburban
streets for much as $35 per pill.

"Drug dealers are not stupid," said Prosecutor Joseph Ruggiero, who
heads Birkett's narcotics unit. "They recognize this and they're going
to keep doing this until the penalties are increased."

In DuPage alone, 31 people died of drug overdoses in 1999, compared
with 15 a year earlier. Side effects from drugs such as Ecstasy may
include verbal and visual impairment, memory loss and an increase in
heart rate and body temperature.

Mark Henry, director of DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, said
young users many times experiment with club drugs, which they perceive
as safe, before moving on to others such as heroin.

"The kids believe it's a good drug and there's no harm," Henry said.
"The problem with kids taking it is, oftentimes, they don't even know
what they're taking."

Such was the case with the three teens who died last May. Each
unwittingly took PMA after mistaking it for Ecstasy.

Aeschlimann, a Naperville Central senior, died May 14 after swallowing
six times the lethal dose of PMA. Her friend, Garrett Harth, faces
involuntary manslaughter charges on suspicion he provided her with the
drugs.

Prosecutors considered drug-induced homicide charges, a more-serious
felony with a longer prison sentence. After researching the law,
Birkett said, Aeschlimann would have had to have taken some 200 pills
- - enough to kill dozens of people - for such a charge to be pursued.

"These are tremendous numbers when you recognize the fact that in some
cases death has been caused by a single dose," Birkett said. "That
case (Aeschlimann) was a reminder for why we need this
legislation."

Not everyone agrees.

Harth's defense attorney, Daniel Collins, called it a "reactionary"
solution. He said more scientific research is needed before ruling
such drugs have no proven medical benefits and, as such, should be
held in a different category than Class X drugs.

"I'm not saying Ecstasy is a good drug or that it shouldn't have a
Class X penalty, but before we reach that point, we should make a more
educated decision, rather than just some knee-jerk reaction," Collins
said.

Daniels said he'll seek bipartisan support for his bill when he
returns to Springfield Jan. 30.

"We will finally have laws on the books to put these predators behind
bars," he said. "Their ability to get away with murder stops here and
now."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake