Pubdate: Thu, 25 Apr 2002
Source: Centre Daily Times (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Nittany Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.centredaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/74
Authors: Alfred Jones, Jr. and Andrew Porter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

CARING ABOUT ECSTASY ABUSE

Thank you for an interesting and timely article regarding Ecstasy and 
drug abuse (April 17-19).

While there is little data to support incarceration and entry into 
the judicial system as stand-alone deterrents to drug abuse, 
research, community-based education, intervention and support are 
critical to preventing and ending abuse and addiction. A primary need 
is the development of strong protective factors across four domains: 
family, community, peer and school.

Community Help Centre has invested in this philosophy since it was 
founded in 1971. To that end, Community Help Centre has served as a 
key leader in the organization and development of both the Care 
Partnership, the Centre Region Communities That Care and, 
tangentially, with the Centre County Communities That Care. These two 
organizations collaborate to provide a community-based approach to 
prevention and intervention across the four mentioned domains. We are 
also actively involved in the partnership, a community-campus 
partnership working to address high-risk drinking behaviors, and 
other community-building programs and initiatives. Each of these 
groups welcomes new members and assistance in building 
community-based dialogue and programs.

Involvement in these programs, education, and development of 
positive, proactive communication will help to prevent drug abuse and 
addiction. Involvement will also assure timely and appropriate 
intervention support and treatment if and when it is necessary. 
Anyone interested in participating in these efforts should contact 
Tammy Gentzel, our executive director.

Individuals who use illicit drugs, as well as their family members, 
are often reluctant to seek help because of possible legal 
repercussions, fear over loss of personal privacy and embarrassment 
regarding their own behavior. Community Help Centre is a safe, 
nonjudgmental place to call for confidential information and support. 
I encourage CDT readers to contact us for any problem, any time at 
(814) 237-5855. We are happy to accept collect calls.

Alfred Jones, Jr.

Board President

Community Help Centre

State College

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'Hodge-Podge Of Half-Truths'

- - Thomas Jefferson once said: "If people let government decide what 
foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon 
be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under 
tyranny. "

Having finished reading your report on the illicit drug Ecstasy, I 
say kudos to Jefferson. Those articles are a hodge-podge of 
half-truths and verbal smokescreens.

Obviously MDMA (shorthand for methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the 
psychoactive compound present in Ecstasy) is not always safe, though 
the same could be said for aspirin or Sudafed. Let us compare MDMA 
and alcohol (a drug which your paper manages to condemn on the one 
hand, whilst printing drink recipes and accepting advertising from 
bars on the other). In the year 2000, 510 people died in 
alcohol-related crashes. On average each day 40 alcohol-related 
traffic accidents occurred and 1.4 people were killed. And that's 
only in Pennsylvania.

No one knows for certain how many deaths per year are caused by MDMA, 
but even the government's own think-tanks don't put the number above 
100 per year, nationally. Additionally, this statistic is inherently 
flawed, since the vast majority of Ecstasy related deaths are caused 
not by MDMA, but by adulterants, such as PMA, DXM and PCP, which are 
added by money-hungry drug manufacturers in an effort to raise 
profits. Also, contrary to what you printed in your Ecstasy quiz, 
MDMA does have a legitimate medical usage: It was used in the 1970s 
and 1980s by numerous psychiatrists to treat everything from 
alcoholism to schizophrenia, often with great success.

Your paper is free to do what it wishes; I, however, will not be 
purchasing it in the future. My money would be better spent on (the) 
Weekly World News, which provides the same level of objectivity, 
without that annoying sense of self-righteousness.

Andrew Porter

State College
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MAP posted-by: Josh