Effects of MDMA

Effects of MDMA

Ecstasy: Invading the Youth

The War on Drugs is a lost cause. The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives. The result is any adult or child with a couple measly dollars can purchase any existing illegal drug almost anywhere in the country (Greer 6/24/98). The emergence of a new designer drug (a combination of two existing drugs) "ecstasy," which is the most common street term for the illicit drug MDMA (+/-3,4Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), has brought a fatal blow to the War on Drugs. The "love drug," as MDMA is sometimes referred to, has spread from its previously isolated dwellings within the darkness of the "rave" scene (a rave is an all-night illicit dance party), into high schools across the United States and Canada. "Police say the manufacture, smuggling, and availability of ecstasy are booming" (Oh 4/24/00). The tremendous increase of ecstasy use is due to its escalating social acceptability, the perceived safety of the drug, and the influence of peer testimonies. This dramatic proliferation of the use of "X" is something that urgently needs to be addressed.

A succinct application of existing drug enforcement venues would aid in the curtailing of this profound drug. The application should be the integration of education about "E" into elementary and middle schools, reaching children as young as the fifth grade. To provide a general perception of the dramatic increase in the drug's use, here is a statement from one of the top drug enforcement directors in the United States: "The White House's drug policy director, Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey…warned that [E] was posing a particularly serious threat to children. He cited a nationally recognized survey sho...

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... cannot be taken lightly. I petition you, the parent, to see that actions be taken within your communities' schools to thoroughly educate your children. If you fail to do so then do not be surprised to hear that your own child gets hopped up on E pills every weekend and dances around loving everybody. Your ignorance can lead to your own child's self-destruction.

Works Cited Fields

Gary and Donna Leinwand. "Customs-trained Drug Dogs Sniff Out Ecstasy at Airports." USA Today. April 19, 2000

Greer, Mark. "Letters to the Editor: Prohibition is Immoral." The Wall Street Journal. June 24, 1998.

Hernandez, Raymond. "In New Drug Battle, Use of Ecstasy Among Young Soars." New York Times. August 2, 2000.

Oh, Susan. "The Dark Side of Ecstasy." Maclean's. April 24, 2000

Radford, Tim. "Ecstasy 'Injures Brain for Life.'" The Guardian. October 30, 1998.