February 04, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Can ecstasy kill? How do designer drugs, such as ecstasy, really affect one’s body? What do pacifiers have to do with the drug culture? Are there any long-term good or bad effects?
Robert Stutman, a 25-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency, will address the Vanderbilt community on the dangers of ecstasy Tuesday evening, Feb. 5. The lecture will begin at 8 p.m. in Ingram Hall at the Blair School of Music on Vanderbilt’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.
According to Stutman, ecstasy was to the 1990s and is to the present decade what LSD was to the 1960s—a seemingly benign, recreational-use “club” drug. Known as the “fun drug” or the “hug drug,” ecstasy is described as giving a “warm, peaceful, and serene” high. Ecstasy is taken by the same group of people who used LSD in the ‘60s: predominantly white, financially secure 18- to 24-year olds—in Stutman’s words, “the young, rich yuppie crowds.”
Ecstasy also produces the same physiological effects as LSD, such as paranoia, psychotic behavior, elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Long-term effects include memory impairment, neurological damage and depression. In some users, ecstasy has caused seizures and death.
Stutman favors combating the use of ecstasy and similar drugs with education and prevention in addition to simple law enforcement. It’s not just about seizing the product, he says.
“All of the times that kids have stopped using a particular drug, it was never because that drug wasn’t available. Kids stopped using certain drugs because they decided the drug was dangerous.”
He cites the decline of LSD use around 1975. “It wasn’t because LSD was unavailable,” says Stutman. “It was because kids decided it wasn’t the thing to do.”
Stutman is a 25-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency, rising to the head of the New York office before his retirement in 1990. He is the drug consultant for both PBS and CBS News, and has appeared on national television programs such as 60 Minutes, Frontline, The Today Show, 48 Hours, and Face the Nation. Stutman’s autobiography, Dead on Delivery: Inside the Drug Wars, Straight from the Street, is a national bestseller. In 1990, he founded Employee Information Services, Inc., the nation’s largest management consulting firm specializing in the design and implementation of comprehensive substance abuse prevention programs for companies spanning all industries.
Stutman’s lecture is being sponsored by the Vanderbilt Office of Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention Programs.
Contact: Elizabeth Latt, (615) 322-NEWS
elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu