According to Join Together Online information (JTO’s) on ecstasy, the drug is no longer confined to clubs. With ecstasy use among young people in the United States increasing at a rapid pace, experts say it could become as destructive as the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, Reuters reported July 19. In fact, ecstasy and other drugs like K, acid, and GHB have found their way into schools and homes, and are used by growing numbers of young teens.


According to the 2000 Monitoring the Future Survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 1.3 million of the nation’s students in grades 8 through 12 have tried ecstasy at least once, and 450,000 are currently using it. The recent Office of National Drug Control Policy biannual report reveals that availability of ecstasy has increased dramatically, sold at high schools, on the street and in malls.


Ecstasy, a PBS special funded by NIDA, takes a hard look at the realities of what many teens think is just “harmless fun”. This new In the Mix special shows the short and long term effects of ecstasy, ketamine and GHB; explores the devastating personal and social impact experienced by teens now in rehab; and defines the legal penalties for possessing even small amounts of these drugs, which are the same class as heroin and cocaine.

Ecstasy fits into patterns of addiction

The JTO went on to say that the word among teens today is that club drugs are not “real” drugs, that they are non-addictive and that using them can’t get you into trouble. But according to Dr. Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, “We do know that an increasing number of people are coming into treatment centers saying, ‘I can’t get control over my E use’. Now, clinically, that’s the definition of addiction.”