Last year the authorities seized a vast quantity of ecstasy tablets. The seizures represented a big increase on previous figures yet the evidence suggests, and the Garda readily acknowledge, that the seizures represent only a tiny fraction of the quantity that is coming in. Any young person will tell you that ecstasy is readily available on the streets and in many pubs and clubs. The fact that vast quantities of the drug are being consumed by young people indicates a totally misguided and inaccurate perception of the dangers involved. Doctors sometimes compare ecstasy to Russian roulette because while a person could take ecstasy regularly, without any side effects, each tablet has the potential to kill.
The dangers of ecstasy are fivefold. First, many ecstasy tablets are of dubious quality and contain other substances. This can amount to a lethal cocktail in some cases. Second, even ecstasy tablets which are pure can kill because it is not possible to predict how any one individual will react to the drug at any given time. Third, apart from those victims who die immediately, many suffer from long-term kidney failure, heart disease and serious depression. Fourth, increasingly ecstasy is becoming a gateway drug to heroin but of more concern is the increasingly common practice of people taking heroin to come down from an ecstasy high. In many cases this leads to a chronic heroin addiction. This practice is being actively encouraged by drug dealers who are now selling ecstasy tablets and heroin made up in one pack. Fifth, unlike heroin, ecstasy is relatively inexpensive. Tablets can cost from as little as £10 to £15 each and the price is coming down regularly. While medical evidence against ecstasy is steadily growing, more and more young people are dicing with death.
An article in a recent issue of Communiqué, the journal of Garda management, put the number of ecstasy-related deaths last year at 14. In Scotland in 1993 three teenagers died in an evening as a result of taking ecstasy tablets, yet still the perception among young people of all social classes is that E is a harmless drug. It is this misconception which makes ecstasy so deadly.
The Department of Health has a clear responsibility to change that perception and to do so urgently, even more so given the growing use of ecstasy as a bridge drug to heroin. Merely distributing leaflets about ecstasy will not achieve this. There is an obvious need for a campaign similar to that mounted against AIDS some years ago. It should include use of television, billboards and local radio stations. Such campaigns have been effective in the past and are the only means by which successful campaigns against ecstasy abuse can be mounted. I urge the Minister to do so.
