PRESS RELEASE:
April 18, 2006
| CONTACT:
Rafael Lemaitre: (202) 395–6618
|
ECSTACY MARKET COLLAPSING
Use of the Drug Dramatically Down in the United States;
International Seizures Drop Dramatically
(Washington, D.C.)—John Walters, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), today released compiled data showing dramatic changes in the illegal market for MDMA/Ecstasy in the United States and abroad. Some key findings:
-
The latest Monitoring the Future report has found that the use of Ecstasy (MDMA) has declined by nearly two thirds since 2001.
-
Current use dropped 66 percent among 8th graders (from 1.8 percent to 0.6 percent), 61 percent among 10th graders (from 2.6 percent to 1.0 percent), and approximately 64 percent among 12th graders (from 2.8 percent to 1.0 percent).
-
Perceived harm of using Ecstasy among high school seniors almost doubled, from 33.8 percent in 1997 to over 60 percent in 2005.
-
At its peak in 2001, total domestic seizures of MDMA reached 11 million tablets. In the past 2 years, however, total domestic seizures declined to less than 3 million tablets.
-
Dutch MDMA seizures increased from 3.6 million tablets in 2001 to an average of 5.5 million tablets a year for 2003 and 2004.
Director Walters said, "Thanks to the work of parents, communities, and law enforcement, we are seeing a dramatic decline in the threat that Ecstasy poses to our nation. Conventional wisdom from the late nineties convinced many Americans that there was nothing we could do to stop the spread of Ecstasy abuse among young people. Once again, we have proved that balanced strategies against our drug threats make the drug problem smaller."
Percent of young people using MDMA
(Monitoring the Future 2005)
