E-RELEVANCE: ECSTASY TABLETS FOUND LOCALLY BUT POLICE ALREADY HAVE THEIR HANDS FULL

Southeast Missouri is finally into Ecstasy.

Until last year, police in the region had never seized any tablets of the fastest growing illegal drug in America, said Robert Briner, head of the Southeast Missouri Crime Lab. Last year he tested his first five samples of the drug. They proved to be Ecstasy.

"Ecstasy is here, but not in the amounts you hear about in other places," Briner said.

The mostly European-made stimulant imprinted with butterflies, dolphins and other images have spread wildly in the United States after enjoying popularity abroad for years. St. Louis is inundated with Ecstasy, chemically known as MDMA, Briner said.

Southeast Missouri has different tastes in narcotics, said Sgt. Kevin Glaser, head of the SEMO Drug Task Force. Marijuana and crack cocaine are traded more regularly, but nothing compares with methamphetamine. Meth lab busts have increased every year for almost 10 years, he said.

"I don't see a downward trend yet," Glaser said.

Ecstasy, which is a form of methamphetamine, was developed in 1914 by the German pharmaceutical company Merck. It was never used widely until the early 1970s, when therapists began trying it on patients.

It became illegal in 1986 as its use began to increase.

But Ecstasy continues to grow. In 1999, the U.S. Customs Service reported seizing over two million doses of Ecstasy, which is seven times the previous year's total.

Club drug

Use of the tablets is being popularized through dance clubs and all-night youth dance parties called raves, chiefly in metropolitan areas. Ecstasy's market among teen-agers and young adults has led to its label as "kiddie dope," law enforcement authorities have said.

Ecstasy has been likened to Prozac. Both regulate the amount of chemicals released in the brain that control sleep, appetite, body temperature and mood. But Ecstasy releases much more serotonin more quickly. The result is a high that lasts for four to six hours, sometimes accompanied by severe dehydration and exhaustion since the desire to eat, sleep and drink are suppressed.

But even light weekend use of Ecstasy might harm intelligence, according to a study by German scientists.

In a report last year in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, results showed that weeks after partying, those who used Ecstasy along with marijuana performed worse on intelligence tests than people who just smoked pot or took no drugs at all.

Fake Ecstasy

Another danger is a false Ecstasy tablet, known as PMA, Briner said. It can raise body temperatures to 115 degrees.

"It cooks you from the inside out," Briner said. "The usual danger is that someone thinks they've got a bad tablet, so he will take more and probably increase the effect."

Cape Girardeau police seized what were probably their first Ecstasy tablets last summer during a traffic stop, Lt. Carl Kinnison said.

Glaser expects much more Ecstasy to come here.

"We will have a problem because we're dealing with a college town," he said.

Meth still on the rise

Until more Ecstasy comes, Glaser said law enforcement has plenty of work to do with methamphetamine.

"We get three meth cases compared to everything else," Briner said.

Many meth makers who were arrested in 1997, a significant growth year for the drug, are now getting out of prison, Glaser said.

"People out there making the drug are getting smarter," he said.

Fewer meth cooks are making the stimulant in populated areas, choosing isolated rural settings instead so chemical smells are less obtrusive, Glaser said.

Glaser doesn't believe any county in the region has more meth than another.

"We could go to any county in Southeast Missouri and get high numbers," he said. "Numbers are high in an area because a team is working the area."

While increased attention is placed on meth, crack cocaine is not pursued as strongly, Glaser said. They still pursue dealers selling $20 rocks of crack on the streets, but many are not caught, he said. It's a matter of manpower.

Much marijuana is both grown and brought into the area. A month ago, 4,000 pounds of marijuana was seized from a tractor-trailer in Steele, Mo., he said. It was hidden under onions.

Narcotics officers generally don't pursue marijuana users. It's impractical, he said.

"If people are growing a couple of plants, they're hard to catch," he said.

Heroin has never been popular in Southeast Missouri, Glaser said. In the Task Force's 11 years of existence, he said he has made three heroin arrests.

The reason is cost, he said. An ounce of heroin sells for $6,000, compared to an equal amount of meth for $1,600.

The best way to fight drugs is through tougher laws, Glaser said. An overloaded court system doesn't help, but measures such as high cash bonds in Stoddard County have moved meth cooks out, he said.

Since drug laws aren't equally applied in every state or county, the best Glaser hopes for is to keep drug dealers moving.

"This is kind of my goal in Southeast Missouri," Glaser said. "I feel like I've accomplished something if I run them across the river."

DRUG ARRESTS

Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force's drug arrests for 2000

For possession of drug paraphernalia:

Marijuana -- 52

Crack cocaine -- 10

Methamphetamine -- 206

For drug sale or manufacturing:

Marijuana -- 10

Crack cocaine -- 5

Methamphetamine -- 194

Women arrested -- 72

Men arrested -- 253

New drug cases initiated in 2000 -- 236

METH LABS SEIZED:

Methamphetamine labs seized in 2000 by the Missouri State Highway Patrol:

Butler County: 19

Cape Girardeau County: 16

Mississippi County: 12

New Madrid County: 12

Wayne County: 10

Scott County: 8

Dunklin County: 7

Bollinger County: 3

Pemiscot County: 1

Perry County: 0

Madision County: 0

Stoddard County: 0