Ad campaign to target soaring Ecstasy use

Some of the new ads on ecstasy from the Patnership for a Drug-Free America

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Alarmed over what it says is a 71 percent increase in the abuse of the amphetamine known as Ecstasy over the past two years, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America is launching an ad campaign it hopes will start to reverse the trend.

PDFA President Stephen Pasierb said that while adolescent abuse of other drugs such as marijuana, alcohol and inhalants has decreased or at least leveled off over the past couple of years, the use of Ecstasy, the street name for MDMA (methylenedioxymethampetamine), has risen sharply.

Teens are more likely to use Ecstasy, thinking it is harmless, he said, but the euphoric high that users experience could be deadly.

"The great lie about Ecstasy is that it is safe, it's fun, it's harmless and it's fashionable," said John Walters of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "It is a danger because of both supply and attitudes are going in the wrong direction."

PDFA officials said that seizures of the drug went from about 750,000 pills in 1998 to about 9.3 million in 2000.

"When anti-drug attitudes are high, drug use is low," Pasierb said. "When anti-drug attitude is low, drug use is high. And that is what we are seeing right now with Ecstasy."

The $2 million campaign features several ads that underscore teens' attitudes about the drug and emphasize ignorance on parents' part about the drug and its dangers.

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In one ad, a teen-age girl is dancing, begins to get sick and then collapses on the floor while others dance around her. In another, the mother of a girl who died from ingesting Ecstasy says, "When the coroner came to that office, I said, 'What is Ecstasy?'"

The drug is often called the "hug drug" or the "love drug" because the high it produces breaks down natural inhibitions and social barriers. Some of the ads end with the line, "So, where's the love?"

Ads such as these worry Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum, an author of three books on drug abuse, including "Pursuit of Ecstasy: The MDMA Experience" with Dr. Jerome Beck.

Because PDFA also produced the dramatic "This is your brain; this is your brain on drugs" ads, Rosenbaum said she sees a credibility problem.

"Young people will laugh at us the way they laughed at the fried egg," she said. "Young people may dismiss what they see [in the new ads] as government hysteria."

Rosenbaum said she "would not suggest that Ecstasy is a safe drug" and hoped that if young people choose to use it, they would do so with common sense and caution.

Anthony Tarantino, an 18-year-old who said he spent about two years addicted to Ecstasy, told CNN, "I just decided to take it and experience it. From then on, you know, I did it one weekend, then it was every weekend, then it was every day for about two years."

Tarantino, who said he's been off the drug for about 150 days, said Ecstasy ruined his life.

One of the ads depicts a teen collapsing from using Ecstasy.

"My eyesight is just totally shot, damaged," he said. "You know, I see blurry vision, light and colors and stuff that aren't even there. The stuff you see, the visuals and stuff, became permanent for me."

Rosenbaum disputed the notion that Ecstasy produces hallucinations. "People don't hallucinate on Ecstasy," she said, suggesting that such effects could be the result of other chemicals in the pills.

Anthony's mother Cherrell Tarantino said there are warning signs -- such as heavy perspiration and thirst -- that can alert parents a child could be on Ecstasy.

"When they start coming around and hugging you and putting their arms around you and giving you a kiss, It's kind of an overly euphoric feeling they're feeling" she said. "That's another dead giveaway."

Pacifiers and the presence of Vicks VapoRub can be other signs of Ecstasy use, she said.

"My son's jaw started to wear away because of the clenching of his teeth. A pacifier holds this off. ... They use a doctor's mask and put it over their face. ... They use Vicks VapoRub and they blow it in each other's eyes [to increase the high]. It's just an amazing thing; there's a whole paraphernalia thing."

Possible short-term negative effects of Ecstasy use include nausea, chills, tremors and dangerously high body temperature, according to the Center for Alcohol and other Drug Education at George Washington University.

Long-term use can bring anxiety, paranoia, depression, irregular heartbeat, and liver or brain damage, the center said.

Also, some Ecstasy pills contain other drugs that can increase the danger.