Ecstasy use among teens on the rise

By Lisa Hoffman

Daily Staff Reporter

Potentially fatal side-effects, including hypothermia, dehydration, over-emotional behavior, increased blood pressure and depression have not turned students away from using the designer drug ecstasy - the use of which has increased during the last year, according to a University study.

"It doesn't feel real," said an anonymous University junior, about the effects of ecstasy, which can last from four to six hours. "It's kind of like living in a fantasy world."

Ecstasy is the street name for the drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, which has stimulant and hallucinogenic characteristics.

During the past year, the United States witnessed a large increase in the use of ecstasy among adolescents, including a 2.6 percent increase in ecstasy use among high school seniors from 5.6 percent to 8.2 percent, according to the Monitoring the Future study performed at the Institute for Social Research.

Last year's survey also showed that one in 12 University students had used ecstasy, at least once during the last year.

"My guess is that use has risen in students this year," said University research scientist Lloyd Johnston, who added that he feels the ongoing rise of ecstasy use can be attributed to an increase in supply of the drug from the Netherlands and the growing club scene. "I think it is a drug where the consequences are not so obvious, so as long as they don't see the consequences, they will continue to use it."

During the course of the past few years, substance abuse therapist Randy Pomeroy at the Chelsea Arbor Treatment Center said he has also seen a huge increase in the number of students using ecstasy. He estimated that four out of his 14 young adult cases use ecstasy.

"This is a big one and it is getting worse," Pomeroy said. "It's actually rising because of casual use at a party or a friend's house on the weekends, which escalates into something more than casual."

Users and experts agree that the biggest fear with ecstasy is the probability that the ecstasy is laced with more dangerous drugs, which can produce fatal effects.

"You take 'E' and you could have cocaine powder in there," an anonymous University student said. "Rarely are you going to get pure 'E' and that's scary."

Pomeroy said students worried about purity are in the minority. Most people are not as scared about the drug because it's becoming more common on college and university campuses, through gateway drugs including alcohol and marijuana, he explained.

"In two, three or four years down the road, it's not likely that they will quit because it is more socially acceptable," he said.

According to the survey, 51 percent of the 13,286 high school seniors who responded said they could get ecstasy "fairly" to "very easily," and 38 percent of these students saw a great risk in trying the drug.

Johnston attributes the lack of con cern to a "honeymoon period" for the drug, a time when people don't realize the long-term consequences, which include neurological disorders, respiratory failure, anxiety and liver damage. Johnston compared this to the use of cocaine in the late '70s and early '80s, when users did not realize the serious side effects of the drug until later in the decade.

Some students exercise foresight when thinking about drug use.

"Students ultimately need to make their own decisions, but they have to look at the future," Engineering student Chris Vermillion said. "People need to ask themselves, 'Will I regret the decisions I made,' before taking the drug."