Pubdate: Wed, 01 Aug 2001
Source: The Southeast Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2001, Southeast Missourian
Contact: http://www.semissourian.com/opinion/speakout/submit/
Website: http://www.semissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322
Author: Libby Quaid
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

CLUB DRUG'S USE NEAR EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS

WASHINGTON -- No longer confined mostly to Los Angeles, Miami and New 
York, use of the illegal drug Ecstasy is reaching epidemic 
proportions among teen-agers in the nation's heartland, an educator 
and Missouri law officers said Tuesday.

Kids and even some parents mistakenly believe Ecstasy is safe, 
educators said during a video teleconference hosted in Washington by 
the White House's drug policy office, which has begun a $5 million 
radio and Internet campaign to make people aware of Ecstasy's dangers.

"Parents are very uneducated about Ecstasy," said Janet Nease, 
assistant principal at Park Hill (Mo.) High School. "It's happening 
right under their noses."

Ecstasy is a pill that produces euphoria and dramatically elevates 
blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature. It can cause heart 
attacks or strokes and may cause brain damage that is long term or 
even permanent, said Glen Hanson of the National Institute of Drug 
Abuse.

It gained popularity in the 1990s at all-night dance parties known as 
raves. In rural areas, kids gather at abandoned barns and machine 
sheds to use the drug, said U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, who organized the 
forum.

The drug's use in more affluent Kansas City suburbs, such as Blue 
Springs and Park Hill, is "popping up more so than in the urban 
core," Graves said.

Emergency rooms are also seeing more and more Ecstasy users, and 
Nease said school officials worry their nurses are unprepared for 
medical emergencies resulting from the drug's use.

As Big A Problem As Meth

Ecstasy is becoming as much a problem as methamphetamine, said Dave 
Barton, director of the government's meth-fighting task force known 
as the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

"But our funds are very, very limited," Barton said, adding, "Our 
meth problem has not lessened in any way."

The Senate Government Affairs Committee, led by Sen. Joseph 
Lieberman, D-Conn., held a hearing Monday on Ecstasy's quick growth.

Philip McCarthy, 17, testified he knew nothing of the anger and 
depression that would hit after Ecstasy's high wore off. Soon he was 
hooked and stealing televisions and VCRs to support a $300-a-week 
drug habit.

"It was a high I definitely wanted again," said Mc-Carthy.

The drug is manufactured mostly in Belgium and The Netherlands.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe