Pubdate: Tue, 23 May 2000
Source: Munster Times (IN)
Copyright: 2000 The Munster Times
Contact:  The Times, 601 45th Ave., Munster, IN 46321
Fax: (219) 933-3249
Website: http://www.thetimesonline.com/
Author: Dan Schnolis
Note: Dan Schnolis can be reached at  or (219) 933-3248
Bookmark: additional articles on Ecstasy may be found at 
http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm

ECSTASY DRUG NOT YET AN EPIDEMIC IN REGION

Drug Use Expected To Increase As Popularity Grows In Chicago.

The death of a Naperville teen who overdosed last week after taking what 
she believed to be the drug "ecstasy" has created a heightened awareness of 
the drug's potential impact on the region.

But local officials who work to prevent illegal drug use admit much remains 
to be known when it comes to the latest designer drugs, including ecstasy's 
newest and more lethal cousin PMA, or paramethoxyamphetamine.

The office of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Chicago said 18-year-old Sara 
Aeschlimann of Naperville died after taking PMA, apparently after it was 
sold to her as MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy.

Local police in both the south suburbs and in Indiana said they had not 
encountered many users of MDMA, and almost nothing was known about the 
deadly PMA.

Lake County HIDTA Director Garnett F. Watson Jr., said little information 
is available about PMA because it is so new. But the fact that it was 
derived from MDMA doesn't surprise him.

"That's not unusual with the new designer drugs," he said. "Just as soon as 
the government gets around to saying this drug is illegal, somebody makes a 
slight variation on it ... and you come up with a drug that gives just 
about the same reaction, but it is slightly different."

Authorities are also investigating the death of 17-year-old Steve Lorenz, 
who died a short time after taking a pill identical in appearance to the 
one Aeschlimann took. Test results are anticipated soon to determine of the 
two ingested the same drug.

Use of MDMA, a mild hallucinogenic, is growing among more affluent suburban 
teens, especially during massive underground rave parties.

"It's a problem in middle class and upper class suburbs rather than the 
inner city," said Michael Hillebrand of the DEA. "MDMA is bad ... PMA is 
much worse."

Although using MDMA rarely results in death, PMA can raise the body 
temperature to 106 degrees in those who overdose. In 13 months, 15 people 
in Ontario, Canada, have overdosed and died taking PMA.

In Homewood, police try to keep abreast of the latest trends too, but no 
arrests have been made in the village for possession of the drug "ecstasy" 
or MDMA, said Det. Sgt. Bernie Hogancamp.

"We may well have kids that are abusing ecstasy in town, or adults for that 
matter," he said. "It just that it hasn't reached that point where we have 
those big rave parties like they do in the city, because we really don't 
have a place for that."

Most agencies are concerned about the danger to the unsuspecting teen who 
ingests the party drugs, not knowing what they are made of or where they 
came from.

"Not only should they not be taking the ecstasy, but you don't even know 
what it is," Hogancamp said. "How do you know what you're getting is even 
what you expect it to be and what it might do to you? That is the 
frightening thing."

As the popularity of trendy drugs like MDMA grows in Chicago, officials 
expect the epidemic to spread into the south suburbs and northwest Indiana.

Police in Porter County have not yet learned how much the drug has 
infiltrated that area, said Bob Taylor, coordinator of the county's 
narcotics unit.

"I don't know how bad it is now," he said. "I want to focus right now on 
how bad it is and see where it coming from."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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MAP posted-by: Thunder