Drug of choice hooks students

by Ryan Mac Donald
Editor in Chief

Meet Matt.

By day, he is just a typical University of La Verne student: he goes to classes, takes tests and lives in a dorm room. Sometimes Matt, 21, who asked that his last name not be used, thinks about the not-so-distant future, and what he will do once he graduates. His short-cropped brown hair, blue eyes and wire-rimmed glasses give him an innocent appearance. Matt looks like that kid next door.

But when he begins to discuss what he has done with his friends on his weekends, his innocence disappears suddenly. He talks in a tongue that only some are familiar with. He uses words like "party gear," "Special K," and "insiders." It becomes clear while using this jargon that Matt is not straight-laced.

Not at all.

He talks about going to "rave" parties, where he, amidst the throngs of other college-aged students, spends his nights immersed in a subculture that consists of dancers and deejays. Matt is familiar with the scene because he has been involved with it for some time.

At these parties he experiments with many different kinds of drugs.

Matt is the type of guy who is not afraid to try something new, and this allowed him to become heavily involved with the rave scene. When friends propositioned him, Matt would almost always say yes. But his carefree attitude toward drugs is not a lonely viewpoint. Many people spend their time, not to mention money, the same way. In his free time, he says, and at raves, he surrounds himself with hundreds of people who are also interested in the extended nighttime gatherings where bright lights and loud music are more common than bedtimes and curfews. Even when darkness turns into daylight, these parties continue.

Matt says with the help of drugs, one's sense of time becomes warped, and in a matter of minutes, it seems, the night will be over.

Matt went to his first rave nearly six years ago at age 15. He has never seriously thought about ending his relationship with drugs.

"I'm still involved. Every weekend I'm trying to buy ecstasy, which is huge right now," he said.

His eyes droop slightly; his mouth moves slower than most 21­year olds. These physical idiosyncrasies, of which he is aware, are a result of excessive drug use, Matt says, his speech labored.

Just by speaking with Matt and hearing his enthusiasm about this subculture, one can begin to understand how the popularity of these drugs have spread so rapidly. These so-call designer drugs, a slang term created in the 1980s when this mixture of drugs became popular, are produced by minor modifications in the chemical structures of an existing drug, like ecstasy. The result is a new substance, according to a report published on the Partnership for a Drug Free America Website, but the drugs maintain similar pharmacological effects. The Website states that these drugs are "mainly manufactured by crossing a synthetic mescaline type structure with amphetamine."

Users of the various designer drugs do not have to look very far to find any of these special combinations, says Matt. "Special K, LSD, T-7. You name it, you can find it, unless you're wearing earplugs and blinders. It's everywhere." His knowledge of drugs is expert. Soon Matt will graduate and will enter the job market. He surprisingly is concerned about his education and future, but in the meantime, Matt likes having a good time and enjoys this latest drug revolution.

Meet Toni (not her real name).

She, like Matt, attends ULV and does drugs. Toni, 22, experiments mostly with ecstasy because she says "those other mixed drugs aren't for me." Toni is a senior. She became involved with the party scene last year. One night a friend offered her a pill on the way to a club. They took the pills in the parking lot and forgot about "everything else that was going on in our lives." Though she was familiar with the drug she was given, Toni had never taken ecstasy or anything similar before that night.

Toni's eyes light up as she speaks of her first experience on ecstasy. She laughs and becomes lively. "You feel extremely happy and in your own world. Just hearing the music puts a huge smile on my face. It seems like you are invincible and that you're not afraid of anything. But," she pauses, and before she continues, she says it is too difficult to explain how one's body feels during the experience. But she adds, "You are aware of everything that is going on."

She loves to share this story.

This techno music Toni and other users often speak of is a distinctive style of music and dancing that emerged in the 1980s on the island of Ibiza, known as "XTC Island." During the summer of 1988, the techno phenomenon took root in the United Kingdom as thousands of aficionados gathered to create what has been called Britain's "Summer of Love." These music-and-laser-light dance parties evolved into events known as "raves," which were organized each weekend in warehouses and fields throughout England. "I know right away if I like the music, and I always want to hear the trance music, which has become a part of our culture," Toni says. Her appetite for the drug and its positive effects always stay with her and even though she has not taken the drug for over a year because of school pressure and other priorities, she is always brought back to the good times. "Even now the music brings me back."

The difficulty Toni has when describing what it feels like to "roll," a popularized term meaning to feel the effects of ecstasy, can be attributed to the short-term effects this drug has on her mind and body. Long- term effects actually include confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety and paranoia and physical effects like muscular tension, teeth clenching, impaired vision and nausea, says Shirley Lessiak, a special agent who works with the California Department of Justice Bureau, narcotic enforcement. Consequent memory impairment is a major side effect because new research has found that with long-term use of MDMA, the pharmaceutical term for ecstasy, one can damage parts of the brain critical in thought and memory. These damages are sometimes permanent.

Lessiak warns users to be cautious of the drug and the effects it has on the body. Eventually, the drug destroys serotonin receptors, which are used to create a natural chemical that regulates mood. "If you continue to use ecstasy," she said, "it destroys your ability to make it." Users of the drug want to maintain the frenetic round-the-clock pace of a high-decibel, synthesized musical environment, so they turn to ecstasy, says Lessiak.

Many users dismiss the consequences because of the short-term, mood enhancement, disregarding the bodily damage. "You have to prepare yourself," says Toni. "But it is just like taking a Tylenol. You take it and forget about it. You do need to know of the consequences, but you can't think like that. You have to forget about life. It is not as if nothing else matters, but your mind is in a different place." She comments about a particular experience she had once when the music sent her into a world of her own. She says she was in a "constant state of euphoria."

The vast appeal for the drug comes from its ability to produce both stimulant and hallucinogenic effects while under the influence, Lessiak said. MDMA is used at parties because it enables partygoers to dance and remain active for longer periods of time without negative thoughts or emotions. For this reason, the appeal for the drug is in high demand for the rave parties. "Ecstasy reinforces its pleasurable properties, and drugs that are reinforcing are addictive," she said. But, these addictive qualities are something users need to remain concerned about, and though the drug does not appear to be addictive, recent studies with mice have proved otherwise. "The mice will administer the drugs to themselves; therefore, it appears to be addictive," Lessiak said.

Currently, the dance parties have migrated from the European isles into the backyards of Middle America, and according to the Office of National Drug Control this trend is to happen every few years. Their statistics show that in 1993 the DEA seized 196 pills of ecstasy in the U.S. alone. Seven years later in 2000, the DEA seized more than 3 million tablets of ecstasy. (A number larger by nearly 16000 times.) Still, however, the majority of the pills are being smuggled, Lessiak said. "It's an explosion of about 500 percent because of the successful marketing," Lessiak said. "Through word-of-mouth, documentaries on TV and the media. They all talk about it."

The marketers of this drug are targeting teenagers and college students, she said, and the creators do no differentiate among their buyers. Consumers become interested after talking about its effects with their friends, in turn, spreading its popularity.

Promoters of the drugs are using tools, such as logos on the pills like cartoon characters, to promote familiarity.

"People recognize the logos, and it enhances the sales of tablets and other designer drugs," says Lessiak.

The designation of "designer" usually refers to drugs produced by chemists who develop a drug combination or variant that builds on an existing drug or mimics a drug effect. The risks involved with the use of "designer" drugs are often unknown to users, especially because most makers of the drugs are not chemists, Lessiak said. "The recipe is not easy. They are using kitchen sinks using contaminated glassware and possibly adding rat poison, flour and sugar," she said. "Keep in mind, this is a moneymaking business, all pills may not contain amphetamine in it."

Even with the bodily risks, Matt and Toni believe they will never be harmed by what they take at raves or parties. They do not agree with the way in which the media covers the scene and how it scares people into believing everyone will die from taking it. Toni believes those special programs are entirely misleading. "I hate the prime-time specials that show girls who took five hits of ecstasy and died. You should know no to do that." Toni says she always knows what she gets and who she gets it from. "There are guidelines and rules, just like anything else you put into your body. You know how much and what to take. You learn from other people."

"Everyone gives so much talk to ecstasy and the dangers of ecstasy, but I never seen anyone overdose on it," Matt said.

To combat this common, teenage attitude toward drug abuse, Bob Stutman, a professional narcotics agent, visited ULV recently and addressed issues surrounding the collegiate use of Ecstasy, and other drugs, and the dangers involved with using them. Stutman is a retired special agent for the DEA and leading advocate for drug education and prevention. Now, he travels a circuit speaking about this frightening phenomenon. "You have no idea what you are getting," he warned the audience. "There is no way of testing on the street what ecstasy is."

Stutman told the audience he believes ecstasy is responsible for changing the face of society, and only two other drugs in history have also accomplished this feat, he said. The first drug was LSD during the '70s, which gave rise to a counter culture and changed the face of the US, and the second drug to influence American society was crack cocaine during the '80s.

"It put fear in most people about walking in the streets," Stutman told the audience. "If dope didn't feel good in the short run, you wouldn't have me here today."

Most users, like Matt and Toni, do think drugs feel very good in the short run otherwise, they say, they would not be indulging in them. "I'm not promoting it for everyone," says Toni. "I haven't stenciled ECSTASY across my walls, but it is everywhere."