Pubdate: Tue, 05 Dec 2000
Source: Morning Edition
Copyright: 2000 National Public Radio
Contact:  (202) 414-3329
Mail: 635 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20001-3753
Feedback: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/contactus/000404.comm.html
Website: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/
Anchors: Bob Edwards
Reporters: Ross Reynolds
Cited: DanceSafe http://www.dancesafe.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm (Raves)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

RAVERS FACING DANGERS FROM ECSTASY

BOB EDWARDS, host:

This is NPR's MORNING EDITION.  I'm Bob Edwards.

A new report says teen-age marijuana use has dropped for the third
year in a row, but the same report notes a significant increase in the
use by teen-agers of the club drug ecstasy.  The White House Drug
Office is warning about the dangers of this illegal drug, but the
alarm already has been sounded.  For more than a year, ecstasy users
have been providing information about potentially dangerous side
effects.  Ross Reynolds reports from member station KUOW in Seattle.

(Soundbite of dance music)

ROSS REYNOLDS reporting:

The deafening music at this dark Seattle club jiggles your intestines.
Teen-agers in super-baggy jeans are adorned with glitter and
accessorized with stuffed animals and pacifiers.  They face the deejay
and undulate in free-form dance.  Many will be at it all night, fueled
by ecstasy pills with names like Mitsubishis, Buddhas and clovers.
It's a scene that's repeated at so-called rave parties around the
country.  But while these ecstasy enthusiasts may take the drug to
feel euphoric, as its use has risen, so have reports of other less
appealing effects: nausea, anxiety, panic attacks and even psychosis.

(Soundbite of patient yelling unintelligibly)

REYNOLDS: In the emergency room at Seattle's Harborview Medical
Center, Dr. Michael Copass treats ecstasy users each weekend night,
all in their teens or early 20s.

Dr. MICHAEL COPASS (Harborview Medical Center): Ecstasy lovers tend to
be very quiet, but by the time they get here, very crazy.  What's
usually happened is they've taken the drug in some local adventure
center and somehow or other felt stimulated to move outside,
frequently disrobe, brought in here because they've been unclothed in
public or running up and down the street yelling great war chants.

REYNOLDS: Ecstasy now has the attention of the director of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, Barry McCaffrey.

General BARRY McCAFFREY (Office of National Drug Control Policy): We
think it's a huge threat to young people.  Rave drugs are being
consumed in a party atmosphere with no knowledge of what they're
taking.  They just haven't got the word that this is an immediate
threat to life.

REYNOLDS: Later this month, the White House Drug Office will take to
the airwaves with a $ 5 million radio ad campaign.

(Soundbite from public service announcement)

Unidentified Man #1: All right.  Help me understand this, David.  You
buy this stuff in a club from a guy you don't know.  You're not even
sure what's in it, but you take it and you give it to your friends and
now you're all in custody?

Unidentified Man #2: Sooner or later, you may have to have a talk with
your teen-ager about the dangers of a drug called ecstasy.

REYNOLDS: But while the Drug Office campaign focuses on just saying
no, ravers themselves are taking a different approach.  They argue
kids will continue to experiment with the drug, so at least reduce
harm by giving them information and guidance.  A volunteer
organization called DanceSafe goes to rave parties to advise users on
how to protect themselves.  For example, the drug has a powerful
impact, but it can be slow-acting. Users get impatient, so they gobble
more ecstasy pills.  That's one thing they can be warned against. And
there are other more serious concerns.

Mr. EMMANUEL SPIRIOS (Founder, DanceSafe): The ecstasy market is by
far the most contaminated illicit drug market.

REYNOLDS: Emmanuel Spirios founded DanceSafe in the San Francisco Bay
area in early 1999.  Spirios says contaminated or copycat pills are
the real danger. He says the most harmful copycat contains a strong
amphetamine called PMA. It's killed people in Australia and Europe.

Mr. SPIRIOS: Unfortunately, it popped up on the US market.  Three
young individuals died in Chicago after consuming tablets they thought
were ecstasy, sold to them as ecstasy, but contained PMA.

REYNOLDS: Six more people have died in Florida.

(Soundbite of dance music)

REYNOLDS: At a rave club in downtown Seattle, a local chapter of
DanceSafe is trying to address this copycat dilemma with an unusual
service: pill testing.  A volunteer applies a chemical to a sliver of
a user's pill.  If it turns black purple immediately, that means that
MDMA, the active substance in ecstasy, is present.  Another color
indicates the presence of something potentially deadly.

Unidentified Woman: It does contain ecstasylike substance.  We can't
guarantee--we can't tell you that it's safe.  We can't tell you what the dosage
is or that it doesn't have other adulterants in it, but the primary ingredient
is ecstasy.

REYNOLDS: Spirios says this service is about protecting users from the
lethal variants of ecstasy, not about encouraging drug use.

Mr. SPIRIOS: Everyone that has come to our table to have their pill
tested was going to take that pill anyway.  We have never enabled
someone to consume an ecstasy tablet.  But we have successfully
prevented thousands of people from consuming tablets that may have
contained substances far more dangerous.

REYNOLDS: However, for emergency room doctor Michael Copass, that's
not enough.

Dr. COPASS: I think that anybody who promotes utilization of a
mind-altering substance ought to look seriously in the mirror.  And
anybody who thinks that he can hide his behavior by demonstrating that
this is, quote, a "safe" medicine ought to look twice at himself in
the mirror.

REYNOLDS: For its part, DanceSafe sees itself as providing an
alternative or adjunct to the 'just say no' message, and it plans to
expand.  There are currently 12 chapters around the country, 20 more
are planned.  For NPR News, I'm Ross Reynolds in Seattle.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake