Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David Rohde
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n808/a07.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECSTASY OVERDOSES CONTINUE DESPITE NIGHTCLUB'S CLOSING

Three months after the Giuliani administration padlocked a Chelsea nightclub
it accused of concealing rampant Ecstasy use, nearby emergency room doctors
say they are still treating a large number of young people for
Ecstasy-related overdoses.

City officials attribute the overdoses to other nightclubs in the area that,
they say, continue to allow drug use. But the steady stream of overdoses may
also point to a trend law enforcement officials and researchers have cited
for months: Ecstasy has evolved from a club drug to something commonly used
among friends and at small parties.

"I don't think we've seen the peak of its use," said Dr. Jon Morgenstern,
director of treatment research at the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University. "It seems to have less side effects,
so people can say it's a wonderful thing and it's mind-expanding. But those
are the same things that were said about LSD and cocaine."

Dr. Arlene R. Curry, who works in the emergency room at St. Vincent's
Manhattan Hospital, said health workers there had seen no reduction in the
number of Ecstasy overdoses since a judge ordered Twilo, a nightclub on West
27th Street, to surrender its cabaret license in May, effectively putting it
out of business.

"It's pretty much the same, nothing more, nothing less," Dr. Curry said,
adding that other Manhattan hospitals had seen the same pattern. "Some of
our doctors work elsewhere, and the level has been constant in other
hospitals."

Twilo was one of two Manhattan nightclubs that had hired a private ambulance
service to wait outside their doors to take overdose victims to hospitals.
Club owners said they used the ambulances because of slow response times
from city Emergency Medical Service units. But city officials accused the
clubs of using the private ambulances to avoid scrutiny from the police and
health officials.

A manager at Roxy, the other club that hired a private ambulance, said they
no longer use the service. "The message got sent through a long, long time
ago -- we don't deal with a crowd that is problematic," said Andy Griggs,
special events director at the club on West 18th Street. "It's absolutely
not an issue."

An official at MetroCare Ambulance, the service used by the two clubs, said
no other nightclubs in the city have hired them. Nurses at St. Vincent's
said some clubgoers received substandard treatment from MetroCare, a charge
it denied.

Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington blamed the continued overdoses on other clubs
in the area. "These clubs, I hate to use this term, but their body counts
keep rising," he said. "The clubs are just dumping people at the hospitals."

Mr. Washington said he would urge state officials to deny a liquor license
to Limelight, a nightclub in a former Episcopal church on Avenue of the
Americas and 20th Street. John Blair, an owner of the Roxy who is pledging
to turn the Limelight into a drug-free good neighbor, recently bought the
club when it was auctioned off by Peter Gatien, the bankrupt club
impresario.

"I've succeeded in closing a number of these," Mr. Washington said. "And I'm
going to continue to do it."

The city shuttered Twilo, which attracted electronic music D.J.'s from
around the world, in the spring after a three-year legal battle. City
officials called the club a drug supermarket, while club supporters called
the Giuliani administration draconian. An employee who answered the phone at
the club on Friday said that it had no plans to reopen.

In July 2000, a medical student died of a drug overdose after collapsing at
Twilo. In October, ambulance workers responding to a 911 call were initially
blocked by club security, fire officials said. Later, three clubgoers, two
unconscious and one semiconscious, were treated for overdoses at St.
Vincent's.

Two young patrons of the club have also filed a lawsuit alleging that Twilo
security tried to hide them from E.M.S. crews when they suffered drug
overdoses last summer.  The Manhattan district attorney's office is
investigating the club.

Combining Ecstasy with other drugs and alcohol can cause dangerous
reactions. Those who overdose usually experience overheating, panic attacks,
faintness, severe dehydration and loss of consciousness.

An overdose of another drug that has gained popularity in clubs, GHB, or
gamma hydroxybutyrate, can cause a user to become unresponsive and comatose.
GHB is sometimes called a date rape drug.

Dr. Morgenstern said quick government warnings and news media coverage have
resulted in Ecstasy's dangers becoming widely known far faster than with
other drugs. Some contend that the warnings have been overblown, but Dr.
Morgenstern said he believes that long-term research will show that Ecstasy
damages the brain. Until then, he said, he expects the drug's spread to
continue.

"It's gotten a lot of coverage," he said, "but I'm not sure the coverage
slows it down."
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