Millions of teens and young adults around the world are getting high on ecstasy. Evidence is mounting that this drug has dangerous side effects-much worse than initially thought.
by Cecil E. Maranville
Ecstasy, also known as "e," "Adam" or "XTC," is
the latest fad drug among youth. That's not to say that it is new—it was
developed nearly a century ago by the German pharmaceutical company Merck
and was used by psychotherapists briefly in the 1970s. It was popular
for a few years in the 1980s as a street drug and then faded from the
scene until recently. Now its use among youth is growing.
British police estimate that 500,000 Brits
take the drug each weekend. Of the half-million young tourists visiting
the Spanish island of Ibiza every summer, one in eight takes ecstasy
nearly every night. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
says the drug is available in at least 21 states as well as in Canada,
and that it's especially popular with college students and young professionals.
E is called a "club drug," because it is
sold and used in dance clubs. Club drugs are popular with high school
seniors and college students at all night underground parties with
techno music, which are called "raves." Commenting on a recent ecstasy
bust in Phoenix, Arizona, police estimated that up to 90 percent of
youths who attend rave parties take e.
Users believe it to be a "hug drug," a
drug that lowers the user's inhibitions and makes him experience feelings
equal to those brought on by the sweetest success or the achievement
of a lifetime. It is said to be nonaddictive. Unlike any other drug,
it heightens feelings of empathy, understanding and acceptance of other
people. Probably the principal focus of users in this pleasure-pumped
culture is ecstasy's reputed ability to amplify the delights of sexual
intimacy. The crowning attractiveness of e is that it doesn't do anything
harmful to the user-at least, that has been the hype surrounding it.
And young people are accepting the pitch by the millions. They pay
$20 to $40 per hit/pill, which gives them a 6-to-8-hour high.
