Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 Source: Huntsville Item (TX) Copyright: 2001 Huntsville Item and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. Contact: http://www.itemonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1126 Author: Nancy Rabuck Wilson Note: Nancy Rabuck Wilson is a writer living in Huntsville. She is the author of the award-winning video, "Suicide: No Turning Back." Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) THE AGONY OF ECSTASY Two teens who are currently in a drug treatment program went before a Senate committee last week to testify about the dangers of the popular club drug Ecstasy. "I spent years chasing the first, magical high, and that chase almost killed me," said Dayna Moore, 16, of Ridge, New York. Seventeen-year-old Philip McCarthy of Central Islip, New York, said he first took Ecstasy because he wanted to have as much fun as all the other kids seemed to be having at a suburban house party he was attending. Ecstasy, or MDMA, has exploded in popularity over the course of the past five years, thanks in large part to its widespread use at Raves -- underground, all-night dance parties. Seizures of this drug, most of which is manufactured in Belgium and the Netherlands, have risen 430 percent just since 1997. U.S. Customs agents, who seized 400,000 pills in 1997, seized more than 9 million of them in 2000. It's easy to understand why teens are easy targets for the friendly peddlers of Ecstasy who have infiltrated their world. The synthetic, psychoactive pill is offered up as a quick and easy road to rapturous happiness. Those who sell it and use it call Ecstasy the "hug drug" or the "love drug" -- monikers that make the substance seem especially appealing to high school and college students. Teens love nothing more than to be with others their own age and to enjoy the love and acceptance of peers. When they swallow the MDMA tablets, which usually look like colorful candies, they feel a sudden rush of euphoria. Ecstasy is an enactogenic drug. This means that it makes people more attuned to their emotions and that creates a superficial environment of unity and harmony. Imagine a room full of partying teenagers feeling nothing but affection for one another. That's the effect produced by mass ingestion of MDMA. As Philip McCarthy told the Senate panel, "I felt like the world was glowing with love and my body felt unreal. It was a high I definitely wanted again." If hugs and kisses were the only side effects of Ecstasy, it would be hard to object to the pretty little pills. We could all start popping them, and there could be world peace, at long last. Unfortunately, the drug does produce a number of harmful side effects, some of which are downright frightening. Canny rave organizers make special accommodations that address and downplay some of the common problems posed by MDMA consumption. One of the side effects is bruxism, or teeth-grinding, so pacifiers and blow-pops are readily available. People on MDMA lose the urge to drink, so even though they're dancing and perspiring, they don't feel thirsty; body temperature also rises dramatically. Dehydration and hyperthermia can easily occur, so rave participants are encouraged to buy and drink water throughout the evening. Some rave parties have misting rooms, where overheated partygoers can be sprayed with water. Muscle tension is also experienced by teens who are high on Ecstasy, so massage rooms are provided at many rave venues. Heart rate and blood pressure become elevated when Ecstasy is in a person's system. The kidneys can be damaged. Convulsions and heart failure can occur. Some teens have died of strokes while they were on Ecstasy. Derived from amphetamine and methamphetamine, Ecstasy is a stimulant that works on the central nervous system. It gives partygoers the energy to dance all night long, but when the drug wears off, the user is utterly exhausted. Ecstasy can deplete the vital brain chemical, serotonin, which regulates mood, sensitivity to pain, aggression, appetite, and sleep patterns, by up to 90 percent in only two weeks' time. It also causes the degeneration of neurons that contain the neurotransmitter, dopamine. The brain damage that's caused by Ecstasy is permanent. Dayna Moore told the Senate panel that she had not been warned that anger and depression would set in after the MDMA high wore off. "It was a depression that I couldn't stand," she said. Even though it's a Schedule 1 controlled substance, with no accepted medical use, there's widespread misperception among teens that ecstasy is a safe drug to take for an evening of fun with friends. According to government figures, use of Ecstasy by eighth-graders has risen 82 percent in the past year. A lack of understanding about serious negative effects of Ecstasy is one of the reasons that it's so nonchalantly abused. The fact that recent seizures of Ecstasy have turned up pills that have been cut with other dangerous and addictive substances such as heroin and cocaine have added to the already serious concerns about this drug. The drug policy office of the White House has begun a five-million-dollar radio and Internet campaign to inform the nation's young people about the very real dangers of Ecstasy. Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have joined together to sponsor legislation that would require more public education about the drug. The senators also are proposing that monies be provided to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as to the National Institutes of Health, to fund research. For the sake of our country's young people, let's support this bipartisan effort. Write to your representatives in Washington today and also ask your school board to vigorously promote awareness about Ecstasy and other life-wrecking drugs. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk