by Brian K. Liu

MAKATI CITY—It's one a.m. on a Saturday night, and the DJ is spinning trances at one of the more popular nightclubs here. As the disco lights flash, heads bob up and down in time with the thumping of the overhead speakers. Many of the merrymakers are already tipsy, but for people like Mike, the night is just beginning. For the next several hours, a little pill of joy called ecstasy — otherwise known as 'E' — will take their party to higher levels.

Mike is no stranger to the blissful feelings that come with taking ecstasy (also known as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA), having experimented with it several times in recent months. Within 30 minutes of popping the tiny "tab" or "cap," the effects will start to kick in: a sensory melting pot of soothing relaxation, loose happiness, and seemingly endless exhilaration. "It's like having a constant orgasm for like, six hours," said Mike.

Mike knows an E trip is risky. He says he's heard the stories of ecstasy-related ODs (overdoses) from friends returning from trips to Europe and North America, where E is a mainstream drug. He has also read media reports that say even a single dosage of ecstasy could cause brain damage. He's been told how some people fall to the ground in convulsions, their clenched fists punching the air, while some drink gallons of water in quick succession to quench a burning thirst.

"Ecstasy is from the same family as methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu)," explains Dr. Sara Bellossillo of the Dangerous Drug Bureau's treatment and rehabilitation division. "So it's short-term and long-term effects are much like shabu. Physically, an overdose of ecstasy can cause users to die from stroke, heart attack, or high body temperature, while long-term effects will include brain damage, liver damage, psychosis, and depression."

Despite being aware of these possible dangers, Mike remains part of a growing local trend in which entertainers and young, well-to-do men and women in their late teens to early 30s, pop ecstasy to "escape from the reality of life."

Ecstasy of course is no newcomer to the global drug market. It gained widespread popularity among adolescents and young adults in the last decade, sweeping through European and North American nightclubs and all-night "raves" in the early 1990s and parts of Asia in the latter part of that decade. In the Philippines, it is a narcotic familiar by name to many. But it is used by only a very few, although that may yet change, and perhaps sooner than anyone expects.

Several months ago, a drug bust deemed as the nation's "biggest single haul of ecstasy" netted a mere 600 tablets. By Western standards, that haul was minuscule; in Western Canada, as many as 200,000 tablets have been seized in a single raid. The Manila bust could be read then as an indication of just how limited E use still is here. But it could also be a sign that syndicates are now in the business E, thus making this so-called "recreational drug" accessible to more Filipinos looking for a quick thrill.

Because it is sourced abroad, ecstasy is more expensive than shabu. Cost is the main reason why many young Filipinos have shunned E, even if they may be as ready for "adventure" as Mike is. A Dutch pill, which is considered top of the line, can fetch as much as P5,000. Those made in Thailand and Burma, are priced much lower, but can still cost P1,200 apiece.

Intelligence and Enforcement Group Commissioner Ray Allas of the Bureau of Customs says E is usually imported in small, easily concealable quantities by users themselves who go abroad, and who then sell some of their stash to friends and known associates once they return. Carlo, a 28-year-old businessman, says another form of entry is through commercial couriers, although he says that the packets also contain just a few pieces of E at a time.

"Basically," says Mike, "they don't sell it to anybody. They don't sell it to you unless they know you."

But once syndicates start meddling with the market, as the recent haul indicates, E may become available to more people. Some reports say that the price has dipped to P700 and even as low as P400 a pop, although authorities insist these are the prices "at source." Still, says Xerxes Nitafan, secretary of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, what was once being sold or shared among friends is now being bought "over the counter at bars."

E's exclusive market is reflected in the hospitals its users run to when they have had too much. The Makati Medical Center acknowledges it has seen some such cases, but refused to release statistics. Dr. Pearson Alejandro, who works in the emergency room of the St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City, goes as far as saying that there hasn't been any case this year, although "last year, we saw about two or three a month." He adds, "Though they never admitted they had taken ecstasy, we suspected that ecstasy was the case when youths in their late teens and early 20s would come in after a night of partying, exhausted and dehydrated."

Alejandro says that in one instance, a young couple came to the emergency room very early in the morning, with the boyfriend already unconscious. Before long, the girlfriend, who was exhibiting signs of dehydration, exhaustion, and hypertension, also passed out.

E has recently become popular enough to attract official concern. Under Republic Act 9165, which President Arroyo signed in June, anyone found in possession of 10 grams of ecstasy can now be charged with drug trafficking, a nonbailable offense punishable by death.

Ten grams of ecstasy, however, actually translates into several hundred pills, since one hit may contain only a few milligrams of MDMA. This means that Mike and his gilded friends are still safe. As it is, they have already gone from popping at popular clubs to renting hotel rooms and empty condominiums, the better to keep party poopers away. As few as 20 people get invited to these private parties, where DJs and E are staples. Mike says that one or two friends, usually the E suppliers themselves, volunteer to remain sober and care for any new user. "We want to make sure that the person has a good high, a good trip," he explains.

The party usually winds down the next morning, sometimes as late as 10 a.m. "Some people stay at a friend's house, some go to a park," says Mike. "We're usually too fucking ripped to go home." He says there are hardy ones who go to school or straight to work after a night of partying. "We just try to blend in, go back to our daily lives."

Until next weekend that is, when they return to the world of ecstasy.

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