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Lawmakers Push for an End to 'Ecstasy'

Although ecstasy dates back to the early 1900s, when it was developed and patented by the drugmaker Merck, U.S. health care officials say that more recent evidence is demonstrating that ecstasy is anything but a harmless drug.

"[Ecstasy] can produce increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. And because its stimulant properties enable users to dance for extended periods, it can also lead to dehydration ... and heart or kidney failure," says Alan Leshner, PhD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

But its reputation as a relatively safe drug combined with its relatively low production costs, high profit margins, and virtually unlimited opportunities for smuggling into the U.S., is helping the use of ecstasy to spread faster than any drug since crack cocaine, say drug enforcement agents.

"Recent seizure statistics clearly illustrate this prolific growth," says Richard Fiano, chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Agency. Approximately 1.2 million tablets were seized in 1998 compared to over 12 million tablets in 1999, which translates into a tenfold increase.

A man-made drug, ecstasy is also one of the harder drugs for custom agents to combat, notes Raymond Kelly, commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service. "Like smugglers of other drugs, ecstasy carriers fit no simple description. Well-to-do tourists, travelling mainly from Europe, have been caught with ecstasy strapped tightly to their bodies. Smuggling groups also use juveniles, families, and college students studying abroad," he says. "The drug's compact size makes smuggling options almost infinite."

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