Pubdate: Mon, 15 Apr 2002
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2002 The Des Moines Register.
Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/help/feedback.html
Website: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Lee Rood

IOWANS FEAR DRUG IS AT NEW HIGH

It's 11:15 on a Thursday night at the Garden, one of Des Moines' dance 
clubs. Sexy pop music pulses from the sound system. A blue haze radiates 
from the cooler. Multi-colored condoms sit in a beer pitcher at the crowded 
bar, ready for purchase.

If Landon Heck wanted to make the party more intense, the 21-year-old said 
he would have little problem scoring the small pastel pills that have 
become so popular at dance clubs across America.

Ecstasy, the illegal hallucinogen, is easier to find these days in Des 
Moines and other big cities across Iowa, Heck and other club-goers say.

"It's here, and it's bad that it's here," Heck said. "It's very scary. I 
tried it once four years ago, and it was very icky. It disorients you."

Iowa authorities say ecstasy use is increasing across the state, and not 
just at the after-hours parties and "raves" that originally made the drug 
so popular. Over the past two years, state drug leaders have tried to 
heighten awareness about the drug's dangers while intensifying the search 
for big shipments from outside the state.

While state narcotics teams have had some luck finding the drug, others say 
they believe its use is not as widespread as first feared.

"We haven't seen it," said Des Moines police Sgt. Bruce Elrod, who recalls 
few ecstasy arrests in the capital city. "You'd think if it were out there, 
officers would find it somewhere - even on accident."

Rick LaMere, a resident agent in charge for the federal Drug Enforcement 
Agency, said drug agents closely monitored a recent Cedar Rapids rave that 
drew more than 800 young adults and teen-agers. No ecstasy arrests were 
made, and no drugs were seized. Yet, he says, he is convinced the drug is 
out there.

"If you can cram 800 people into a place, you've got a ready market for 
drugs," he said.

"Also, tastes have changed. And if I'm a dealer, and I know a lot of effort 
is being put into methamphetamine cases, then I'm going to sell something 
else."

Ecstasy is a different kind of drug than methamphetamine, cocaine or 
marijuana, which may be one reason it remains low profile, state drug 
experts say.

Though potentially dangerous, the drug is not as addictive as 
methamphetamine nor as volatile. Drug treatment centers across the state 
report few admissions for ecstasy use.

In addition, the pills do not carry the same stigma as drugs that are 
snorted or injected. Also called MDMA, they are widely viewed as a 
relatively inexpensive mood-enhancer, causing feelings or euphoria and, 
sometimes, arousal.

Until recently, the drug was also considered a white, suburban phenomenon, 
spreading from hand to hand at parties where more affluent youths got 
together. The drug has had little appeal among older adults, unlike meth or 
cocaine.

Recently, though, ecstasy has made inroads among youths of color, local 
black leaders say.

Kittie Weston-Knauer, principal at Scavo Campus, Imam Ako Abdul-Samad, a 
nonprofit director in Des Moines' central city, and the Rev. David Reasby, 
who closely monitors the activities of near north-side youth, have all 
noticed more chatter about the drug.

Said Weston-Knauer: "I fear this is going to be worse than meth or crack."

Doctors still do not know many of the long-term effects of ecstasy use. 
Some side effects include chest pain, liver damage, panic attacks, 
depression, even death.

Nationwide, federal customs agents last year seized more than 9 million 
tablets. The compact size of the tablets, however, makes the drug easy to 
conceal.

Heck said police are likely having a hard time finding the drug because 
they don't know yet how to find it. "They know what a person looks like 
when they're stoned. They know what people look like when they're drunk, 
but how do you know what a person looks like on ecstasy?"

Dan Voogt, bureau chief of the Polk County attorney's drug-and-gang unit, 
agreed. "Based on the cases we have filed and my conversations with 
investigators, I think it is thick in the suburbs," he said. "One of my 
biggest concerns is that people in the community don't believe it."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart