"Ecstasy," a designed drug popular among U.S. teens and club-goers, was seized by the U.S. Customs Service in record amounts in Fiscal Year 1999, prompting fears that abuse and trafficking of the drug are skyrocketing in the United States.
In the first ten months of FY99, Customs seized approximately two million doses of Ecstasy -
a record that is nearly seven times greater than last year’s total. Seizures of 100,000 tablets - once rare at U.S. airports - have become common in recent months.
Ecstasy is a synthetic drug that is chemically known as MDMA, or Methylenedioxymethyl-amphetamine. It is produced illegally in clandestine laboratories. While some Ecstasy labs have been found in the United States, most Ecstasy production is believed to take place in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands. "What Columbia is to cocaine, the Netherlands is to MDMA," a synthetic drug specialist with the Dutch Intelligence Service noted on Dutch television in 1995.
All the rave
Authorities say Ecstasy became popular in Europe in the 1980s with the advent of all-night youth dance parties known as "raves." With its stimulant and hallucinogenic properties, MDMA was taken to enhance the experience of these techno-dance marathons. When raves spread to the United States in the early 1990s, Ecstasy followed.
In the United States, the primary users of Ecstasy are teens and young adults from middle- to high-income families. The drug is typically sold in tablet form in nightclubs or at raves, which are held in almost every metropolitan area of the country. Ecstasy tablets are usually marked with logos that can range from a smiley face to a Fred Flintstone. At raves, the tablets may be hidden in bags of candy, such as Skittles and Tootsie Rolls.
Organized trafficking
Today, authorities in several nations believe that Ecstasy suppliers in Europe may be capitalizing on increased demand for the drug in the United States. Citing the "rapid growth in Ecstasy trafficking from Europe to North America," the international police agency, Interpol held a conference in May to discuss the Ecstasy trade. Attended by officials from nine nations, the meeting in France resulted in the creation of an Ecstasy desk at Interpol to collect and disseminate data on MDMA seizures and traffickers. |
While Under the Influence: Unusual calm, relaxation, friendliness, constant (even inappropriate) touching or stroking of others, constant talking and/or laughing, hyperactivity, excitability, emotional liability, increased heart and breath rate, unusual wide or "popped" eyes, hallucinations, nausea, chills, piloerection ("hair standing up"), excessive sweating, excessive salvation, excessive water intake and/or a craving for water, muscle cramps and/or tremors, teeth clenching and/or grinding, sensory problems (blurred vision, deranged sense of smell and/or taste, dizziness and/or vertigo, deranged sense of time and/or space), insensitivity to pain.
Following Use: Exhaustion, insomnia, weight loss, depression, agitation, memory loss, anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations, perceptual distortion, "flashbacks," transient psychosis, headaches.
Overdose: Dehydration, hypersensitive, elevated temperature, muscle rigidity (especially of the jaw and neck), rapid pulse, vomiting, faintness, unconsciousness, seizures, coma (most reported cases have been due to intracerebral bleeding). Treatment of overdose is largely symptomatic and supportive, as there is no specific antidote.
Prolonged Use: Brain damage, memory loss, depression, insomnia, seizures, kidney failure, liver failure, ovarian/testicular damage, cardiac complications, bleeding disorders, psychosis (particularly with withdrawal). |
