Across the United States and around the world, clubs and raves are providing a source for teenagers and young adults to access deadly drugs.

“It is inevitable that there are going to be drugs in clubs,” junior Nina Garonski said.

The largest increase in club drug usage occurred among 10th graders. The percentages rose from 3.3 in 1998 to 4.4 in 1999. In 1999, 5.6 percent of 12th graders admitted to using ecstasy.

“When a newer drug comes onto the scene, young people hear much more about its supposed benefits than about its potential harms,” Dr. Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan said. As a result, the uses of drugs such as Ecstasy and Special K are increasing.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, young students in the eighth grade were reported to have used Ecstasy in 1999. Club drugs range in popularity from the use in busy cities to rural country regions.

Speed is popular in such major cities as Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Seattle. High Acid sales were reported by the NIDA in New Orleans and Chicago. The most widely used club drugs are Ecstasy and Liquid Ecstasy.

The varieties of Ecstasy have readily made names for themselves. At a local university in New Jersey, Liquid Ecstasy was suspected in 18 hospital admissions and two overdose cases in 1999. In a Texas poison control center, Ecstasy was the cause for 167 emergency calls. Toronto, home of the highest rate of Ecstasy-related deaths in North America, averages at least one death per month.

NIDA hopes to decrease club drug usage by using their surveys to create prevention strategies and new treatments. National and community prevention programs would provide awareness of harmful consequences and ultimately try to “scare” users away. State laws are being strictly enforced in order to save the lives of drug abusers and those around them.

Students at Neshaminy High School are not under the impression that such tactics would triumph over the existence of club drugs. “If people want to do club drugs that badly they’ll find a way,” junior Erin Austin said.