Drug Watch International

Misinformation about Ecstasy is astonishing

August 15, 2001
By:  Mike Corlett, Salinas, California

The drug legalization lobby runs unchecked in America. It has invaded our newspapers, the Internet, television shows, magazines and, in the case of Proposition 36, our laws.

How much does it affect young people in our community? I decided to look at the drug lobby's latest public relations winner, the illegal recreational drug called Ecstasy. Ecstasy was a cover story of Time magazine last year, and was part of the plot of recent episodes of three series on HBO cable TV: "The Sopranos," "Arliss," and "Six Feet Under."

Ecstasy is a drug for which DanceSafe's Web site provides "services (to) help people use as safely as possible." Ecstasy is a drug that was offered (for sale) to my teenage daughter last month as she was buying gas at a north Salinas gas station.

Ecstasy is the common name for methylenedioxmethamphetamine, or MDMA. It comes in pill form, is mainly manufactured in Western European countries, and has the ability to produce hallucinations, as well as having stimulant properties of methamphetamine. It is known as a "club drug," and is commonly used at dance clubs and all-night parties, or raves.

Last week, I received a transcription of an audiotape from the "State of Ecstasy Conference" held in February in San Francisco.  John Cloud, who wrote the Time cover story, was one of the panel participants. His last words at the conference were "He calls me every couple of months about pitching stories." The "he" is Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of The Lindesmith Center — Drug Policy Foundation. Lindesmith was one of the backers of Proposition 36. Our poor judges have to interpret laws sponsored by organizations that claim they are for "drug-law reform," but are flat-out advocates of drug legalization.

Part of the problem with the information that young people get about drugs such as Ecstasy is that, like Time, it is about pitching stories, not printing the truth. In the latest New England Journal of Medicine, researchers point out misinformation on the Internet regarding Ecstasy, specifically citing DanceSafe's Web site. DanceSafe has been applauded by some for the "service" it provides by testing young people's Ecstasy pills at raves to see if what they are ingesting is MDMA or not.  Last week, William M. Bennett, M.D., a nationally-recognized physician, researcher and medical school professor, had an article titled "The Agony of Ecstasy" published in Drug Watch World News. After reviewing more than 250 studies on Ecstasy from 1999 to the present, he listed some of the adverse effects from Ecstasy such as death, brain damage, acute psychosis, sexual dysfunction, rupture of the aorta and learning and memory impairments.

Ecstasy is not safe.

According to a 25-year old secretary in Salinas, Ecstasy is known as the "safe drug." She said it is readily available and she knows about 10 people who sell it.  At Sunrise House, a youth and family counseling center in Salinas, they don't see a lot of young people abusing Ecstasy. Drug resource specialist Ann Costilow said that when she explains to most high schoolers that it is a hallucinogen, they become leery because young people do not like to lose control. A 20-year old I know scoffed and said that kids were just telling Costilow what they thought she would like to hear. Maybe, but Irwin Koppel, a clinical psychologist who serves as a consultant to Sunrise House, cited studies that indicate kids in Salinas are twice as informed about illicit drugs than some peers, and that drug use in this city is roughly half of that in comparable cities around the country. Costilow and Koppel believe use of Ecstasy in Salinas appears to be on the increase, but not an epidemic.

Sgt. Al Ruiz of the Salinas Police Department's narcotics unit agrees. Ecstacy use in this city is "neither epidemic nor alarming," he said. Ruiz is unaware of any local deaths attributed to Ecstasy, but said measuring a drug's potential harm by the number of deaths is misleading because it ignores the other consequences of taking the drug such as impaired memory or brain damage.

Example: A 30-year old Salinas office manager described her younger sister, an Ecstasy user who lives in San Francisco, as "sitting around the house staring like a zombie."

As long as some organizations deliberately understate the risks of Ecstasy, its use will rise. Ignore the views of the Lindesmith Center. The pabulum they pedal may work on kids, but adults should not swallow it. Ecstasy is illegal for good reason, and needs to remain illegal.

MICHAEL CORLETT is a third generation Salinas, California native. Married, father of two teen-agers, he is a local certified public accountant. He writes a monthly column. Write to him in care of The Californian, 123 W. Alisal St., Salinas 93901. Fax to: (831) 754-4293. E-mail to: newsroom@salinas.gannett.com

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