Pubdate: Sun, 11 Feb 2001
Source: Daily Camera (CO)
Copyright: 2001 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  Open Forum, Daily Camera, P.O. Box 591, Boulder, CO 80306
Fax: 303-449-9358
Feedback: http://www.bouldernews.com/opinion/index.html
Website: http://www.bouldernews.com/
Author: Clay Evans
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

SOME TRUTH ABOUT ECSTASY

Years ago, I took ecstasy. I was in the midst of a "hypomanic" episode, the 
energetic - not "happy" - phase of bipolar cycling.

An old friend came by with some "e," seeming to offer the possibility of 
salvation from the relentless energy and voices gnashing at my body and mind.

I had never tried it. But I knew many people who had, including my brother 
and his friends, as far back as the mid-1980s - at Boulder High School.

They said "e" inspired non-sexual feelings of warmth and love and left one 
feeling optimistic about the world. No hallucinations, but you'd be up for 
long hours. My days of experimentation were long over, but I decided to try it.

My "pusher" and I sat in a hot tub beneath a starry firmament, chattering 
animatedly for hours. There were some funny moments, but I never felt the 
warm-huggy sensation people report. Rather, it was exhausting, too much 
like hypomania. Long before sunrise, I knew that "e" was not for me.

I've also been around others on "e." They can be appealing in their sudden, 
loving earnestness: "You know, man, I really love you..." Flattering, and 
perhaps there are grains of truth in their words, but it's the drug talking.

On Jan. 27, 16-year-old Brittney Chambers died, six days after taking 
ecstasy. She did not overdose, but Boulder County Coroner John Meyer thinks 
ecstasy was the first domino to fall in this tragedy.

Yet from the moment I heard about her death, I (and many others) had a 
powerful gut feeling that ecstasy was not the final culprit. When this 
column was first written in mid-week, I predicted that a final medical 
report would show that something else - possibly even that she drank too 
much water - actually caused Brittney's death.

Friday morning, Meyer affirmed my prediction: ecstasy in and of itself 
didn't kill her - drinking too much water did.

I don't endorse anyone using drugs. But let's temper the misleading media 
and parental hysteria about "e" after Brittney's tragic death.

Drugs, legal or illegal, can be dangerous. Advil can kill - so can drinking 
too much water. One problem with illegal drugs is that they are not subject 
to any kind of purity standards.

Yet even "pure" ecstasy can cause problems. It can elevate blood pressure, 
impede the body's ability to regulate heat and cause irregular heartbeat. 
Sometimes, users try to mitigate hyperthermia by drinking too much water, 
which can cause brain swelling and death.

But in the short term, most who use the drug are OK. People who get drunk 
are probably more at risk of death - car wrecks, alcohol poisoning, poor 
judgment - than someone on "e."

Here, from one who has taken ecstasy - and would not again - are some 
things to think about:

It's old hat. Boulder kids have been doing it for 20 years.

Lots of kids - though a minority - at every local school have used "e." But 
it's more prevalent among privileged white kids

Like the '70s "panics" over LSD, parental freakout over ecstasy is 
unwarranted. No drug is "safe," but "e" isn't a rampaging killer.

Most importantly, remember that most kids use ecstasy and other drugs (yes, 
booze is a drug) because it's fun. Other things, from psychology to 
biochemistry to peer pressure, matter, but fun is at the root of 
non-addictive drug use.

So when parents talk to their kids about drugs, it's important that they 
are honest - including the acknowledgment that humans turn to mind-altering 
substances for "fun," and not just, as some hysterically claim, as a "cry 
for help."

Because anything short of full disclosure - including about your own past 
or present drug use, even that little nightcap - kids instantly will 
perceive as hysterical nonsense. And once that happens, you might as well 
not have said a word.
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