Rolling Into the ER: Ecstasy Hospitalizations Spike, Spur Spring-Break Fears

March 25, 2011— -- A new player might be joining the list of spring-break overdose dangers: the "club drug" ecstasy.

New government statistics show a 75 percent spike in ecstasy-related emergency room visits since 2004, prompting the director of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, to issue a public warning on the dangers of the popular party drug, especially with the spring break season approaching.

Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said, "The latest numbers show we need to work urgently and collaboratively to warn young people about the harms of drug use. Now is the time when a lot of young adults and high school kids are going on spring break trips, and this is, unfortunately, when young people often experiment with substance abuse."

And ecstasy-related substance abuse has been especially present in certain spring break hotspots in recent years.

"Miami Beach is like the playground of young adults in America," Dr. David Farcy, director of Mount Sinai Medical Center's Emergency Medicine Critical Division in Miami Beach, said. "We're seeing a lot more ER visits associated with ecstasy. I'd say ecstasy is one of the top three drugs of choice for Miami Beach."

Spring break is one of the peak times the hospital sees ecstasy-related ER visits, Farcy said, often by younger college students. Other peaks happen during music festivals such as in December's Day Glo Party in Miami, when more than a dozen patients came in suffering complications from ecstasy.

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a mood-elevating drug that produces a relaxed, euphoric state but can lead to dangerous, even deadly complications.

Although the United States saw a dip in overall youth drug use -- specifically including ecstasy -- at the beginning of the decade, results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show ecstasy climbing in prevalence since 2008. According to data released Thursday, 18 percent of ER visits associated with the drug were by adolescents younger than 17.

"We need parents to step up and take a moment today to talk to their young people about this," Lemaitre of the Office of National Drug Control Policy said.