Start Worrying

My Friends, we here in Roseville have something serious to worrying about, especially those of us on the west side with kids at Woodcreek Oaks High School. According to “the Ville’s” narcotics division, the current drug of choice at Woodcreek is Ecstasy. It is quite the rage right now I was sorry to learn yesterday and the topic of several discussions on that vaunted instrument of public discourse known as MySpace. Look for a WHS related website near and dear to your heart here. What should you look for? Look for references to “e,” “thizz,” or “MadMan” for starters. You see those words, you need to educate yourself on this drug and start looking for its signs. According to here, this drug is similar to meth in the “chemical structure of MDMA is similar to those of mescaline and methamphetamine.” This isn’t a mild toke my friends.

The signs of a person on Ecstasy are:

Pupil dilation with attendant photosensitivity and color perception
Jaw clenching or bruxism ("gurning" or "grinding") aka “Thizz face”
Shutter vision (nystagmus)
General restlessness
Loss of appetite/taste sensation changes
Lack of focus / concentration
Tingling
Sweaty palms
Increased heart rate

What’s most frightening about Ecstasy my friends is not MDNA, the primary chemical, but what all may be in it. The additives are what can kill if present in sufficient amounts and largely dosed. Here is a great website for getting informed on the varieties of Ecstasy available. It can be made in “basement labs” with household chemicals. It appears this is the reason the Drug Enforcement Agency (on the 5 schedules of the Controlled Substances Act) ranks right up there with heroin as a Schedule 1 substance even though medical experts believe it can be used beneficially for treating disorders like post-traumatic stress, hence would have been a Schedule III drug. Schedule I requires the following findings:

Findings required:
(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

The black market manufacture of this drug is what hits all three findings apparently. Medically, it can cause some damage according to some. Metabolic breakdown of Ecstasy can create “reactive oxygen species” (ROS) chemicals that will “cause oxidative cell damage when taken up into the releasing synapse.” For a here’s-your-brain-on-drugs analogy, another oxidative mechanism is fire, my friends. However, claims that it can cause long term brain damage are debatable.

I spent most of yesterday getting educated about this problem. I’d prefer the bliss of ignorance, frankly. But Ecstasy’s real, “there’s a lot of that going on at WHS,” and it can hurt those you love. Get educated, get active in your kids lives if you are not already, watch for signs, and most of all - pray.