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CNN Live At Daybreak

Congressional Hearings on Ecstasy Drug Begin Today

Aired July 30, 2001 - 08:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you may have heard young people talking about the drug ecstasy. It's popular in dance clubs. Kids like it because it gives them energy, makes them feel good and many think it's safe, not addictive, doesn't hurt you.

Well, there's a government hearing about the drug that starts this morning in Washington and we've got some of the people who will actually be participating in that hearing. People who, unfortunately, I suppose know too much about ecstasy.

Dayna Moore is 16 years old. She is in treatment because of her ecstasy use, and Dr. Terry Horton of Phoenix House, a treatment center, joins us as well.

Thank you both for being here to talk about this.

Dayna, can I go ahead and start with you? Just describe what happened to you when you started using ecstasy.

DAYNA MOORE, FORMER ECSTASY USER: I was 14 when I started using ecstasy. I stopped going to school. I was in dance since I was a little child and I stopped going to dance. My relationship with my family went down the drain. Basically, everything I had that was good to me, I lost.

MCEDWARDS: Dayna, why did you start?

MOORE: I was already using marijuana and alcohol, and all my friends, they were doing it and they always told me how I was missing out, how it was so great. And basically, I was curious and I wanted to be a part of everybody else.

MCEDWARDS: Did you think it could hurt you?

MOORE: No, not at this - not at the time. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know what it could do, what it was. I just saw everybody else having a good time on it and I knew it could get me high so I did it.

MCEDWARDS: Dr. Terry Horton, I know a lot of people think this drug is not addictive, is not dangerous. What do you know about it?

DR. TERRY HORTON, PHOENIX HOUSE MEDICAL DIRECTOR: Well, it certainly is dangerous. We've seen a tenfold increase in emergency room visits in the last four years. We've learned that it affects and actually damages very vulnerable parts of the brain that are involved with learning and memory. And clearly it can drive youth into addiction. This is a dangerous drug.

MCEDWARDS: Is it addictive? Elaborate on that because there's some dispute about that, isn't there?

HORTON: Oh no, at Phoenix House with 35 years of experience with people who have serious addiction and I now include ecstasy clearly in that route, we have a umber of young people who their drug of choice is ecstasy. They use it daily. And they'll use it compulsively, seek it out and use it despite harmful consequences. That's the definition of addiction.

MCEDWARDS: Dayna, did you feel that way? Did you feel like you needed this drug?

MOORE: Yes. Once I tried it that was it. I did it three, four times a week, every other day. I was doing more and more and I couldn't stop.

MCEDWARDS: What do you think, Dayna, the government should do about this?

MOORE: I think they need to make parents and, you know, children and just people in general more aware of what the drug can do, you know how easy it is to get, the effects.

MCEDWARDS: Would you have listened, do you think?

MOORE: Maybe, yes. Maybe if I would have knew more about it when I tried it I would have seconded - I would have seconded thought, you know, taking it.

MCEDWARDS: Sure.

Dr. Horton, what are - what are your views on that? What more needs to be done at the official level?

HORTON: Well, clearly this is a drug that youth do not fear. They think that it's a hug drug or it's not dangerous and they need that information that in the contrary. Burt more importantly, I think it's critical that people learn that treatment works and that we really need more of it. There's precious few treatment slots for adolescents who get into trouble and I fear there'll be more of them as this drug is disseminated amongst our youth.

MCEDWARDS: So that's about more money for treatment you're saying?

HORTON: More money, more slots and more opportunity to access that treatment.

MCEDWARDS: What about in terms of, you know, how people get the drug? I guess, Dr. Horton, I'll ask you this, is it treated in law the same way other drugs are? HORTON: Well, you know it is a substance now that is -- it's illegal and you can by virtue of using it end up with all sorts of criminal sanctions. What's important is that those criminal sanctions result in treatment. A very important tool for getting people into treatment is the court mandate. It's not really --the initial motivation for getting into treatment is not so much as important as the length of time that a person stays in treatment. So it's a useful way of getting someone to treatment that they need.

MCEDWARDS: And, Dayna, how's your treatment going?

MOORE: Well, I've been there six months and, you know, I've been doing really good. My relationship with my family is back together again. I got my education back. I'm getting my license and basically everything I lost I regained. And treatment, it really does, it works. And you know, the longer I stay there, the better I'm going to be.

MCEDWARDS: Good for you, Dayna. Congratulations to you, and thank you both for your time this morning. Good luck at the hearing today.

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