News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 2003

Ecstasy Briefings To Be Held

The Drug Enforcement Administration and other government and community officials will present briefings on Ecstasy and the enormous impact of its abuse as part of DEA's Operation X-Out, a multi-faceted, multi-agency initiative focusing on identifying and dismantling organizations that are distributing club and predatory drugs in our state and throughout the country. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 19th in room 120 of the Computing Commons located on Arizona State University Campus, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon, a press conference will be held at 9:30 in room 122. Visitor's parking is available at the Lemon Street Visitor's parking lot just east of Rural Road.

According to the State of Arizona Youth Survey completed by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission in December 2002, more Arizona youth generally had somewhat higher regular / past month use rates on nearly all substances. The lifetime use of Ecstasy is above the national average for all grades and more than double in the 30-day use of 8th grade students. This combined with the recent report by the Drug Free Partnership for America that teens see no risk in Ecstasy use should be alarming.

Ecstasy is one of the most significant drug threats facing America's young people today. The drug's popularity, and the emergency room visits associated with its use, has mushroomed in the past few years. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) estimates that nationwide hospital emergency room mentions for Ecstasy rose dramatically from 637 in 1997 to 5,542 in 2001. Accordingly, the Phoenix area has the greatest estimated rate of club drug mentions in hospital emergency rooms with 3.6 per 100,000 population.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP as soon as possible to Mary Neville at 602-664-5630. I look forward to seeing you soon.