Ecstasy re-emerges at border, El Paso clubs

About Ecstasy

Ecstasy is a slang name for MDMA, a synthetic stimulant and psychedelic used as a "party drug.""It is also known as Adam, X and the Hug Drug.

MDMA is taken as a capsule or tablet. It produces feelings of euphoria, closeness, energy, and distortions in time and touch.

Risks are similar to other stimulants, including faint feeling, muscle tension, teeth clenching and chills. Sixty percent of users reported withdrawals including fatigue, loss of appetite and depression.

The drug gained popularity in the 1980s in nightlong dance parties known as raves. Canada is the primary source of Ecstasy in the U.S.
Sources: National Institute on Drug Abuse, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and National Drug Threat Assessment 2009.

By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
Posted: 05/12/2009 11:38:07 PM MDT

EL PASO -- A "club drug" once seen in El Paso is making a dramatic comeback, raising concerns among law enforcement.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, is openly sold at nightclubs, teen dances and parties known as raves, El Paso County sheriff's narcotics investigators said.

Investigators are especially concerned because the synthetic drug distributed in colorful, candylike tablets with whimsical designs is being offered to teens.

"It is happening again," sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jesse Tovar said. "We are starting to encounter this drug."

El Paso police this year have seized more than 1,594 grams of Ecstasy, compared with 115 grams in all of last year and none in 2007, spokesman Javier Sambrano said.

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers made their largest Ecstasy seizure on the El Paso border in six years when 244 tablets were found in a balloon allegedly hidden in the rectum of a pedestrian at the Bridge of the Americas, officials said.

Michael Smith, 23, of the 5700 block of Orlando, was handed over to El Paso police, who arrested him on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, Sambrano said.

On May 2, sheriff's undercover investigators arrested alleged Ecstasy sellers at D-Club, a nightclub east of the El Paso city limits, complaint affidavits by detectives stated. Pills sold for $10 and $20 each.

Arrested on drug charges were Gerardo Avila, 18, Saul Martinez, 19, Oswaldo Sepulveda, 19, and a 16-year-old girl.

Deputies also arrested Frankesly Calderon, 22, who allegedly had two small bags of cocaine in his pocket. Calderon, who deputies said was working as club security, said he confiscated the drug from a customer, an affidavit stated.

"They (some club customers) were so high that when we stopped the music, they kept on dancing," Tovar said.

A Drug Enforcement Administration report last year on Texas drug trends stated that Mexican drug traffickers have increased interest in distribution of Ecstasy, which first gained popularity in Europe before spreading to the U.S. dance scene in the 1980s.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

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