“Ecstasy made me crazy. One day I bit glass, just like I would have bitten an apple. I had to have my mouth full of pieces of glass to realize what was happening to me. Another time, I tore rags with my teeth for an hour.” —Ann
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A great many studies have been conducted on Ecstasy. They show that:
- Taking Ecstasy can cause liver failure, as in the case of a 14-year-old girl who died of this, despite an attempt by doctors to save her with a liver transplant.
- Ecstasy is sometimes mixed with substances such as rat poison.
- Young people have died from dehydration, exhaustion and heart attack as a result of taking too much Ecstasy.
- Ecstasy can cause kidney, liver and brain damage, including long-lasting lesions (injuries) on brain tissue.
- Even a small amount of Ecstasy can be toxic enough to poison the nervous system and cause irreparable damage.
Cutting through the hype about drugs
The “positive” image of drugs comes for the most part from being glamorized in movies and music.
When a new substance first appears on the market, it is seldom considered dangerous until long after the harm becomes evident. By then the damage has already been done, and the false idea that the drug is “harmless” has already been widely accepted.
Ecstasy has been the subject of similar hype. As one media observer noted, “It is almost as though some clever marketing wizard came up with a campaign for it.”
What dealers will tell you
When teens were surveyed to find out why they started using drugs in the first place, 55% replied that it was due to pressure from their friends. They wanted to be cool and popular. Dealers know this.
They will approach you as a friend and offer to “help you out” with “something to bring you up.” The drug will “help you fit in” or “make you cool.”
Drug dealers, motivated by the profits they make, will say anything to get you to buy their drugs.
They will tell you that if you take Ecstasy, “you can be with a lot of girls.”
They don’t care if the drugs ruin your life as long as they are getting paid. All they care about is money. Former dealers have admitted they saw their buyers as “pawns in a chess game.”
Get the facts about drugs. Make your own decisions.
