From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (gogo is insane)
Subject: MEDIA:  MTV NEWS (domestic) Report on X
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 22:29:22 GMT

 
Mtv NEWS Report on Ecstacy
airing in December, 1992 in the USA
 
 
        Familiar Mtv News intro fades to shot of Kurt, backdrop being map
        of Europe.
 
KURT LODER:  Hi I'm Kurt Loder with Mtv news, this time from Europe where the
rave subculture of clandestine dance parties continue to grow throughout the
continent and with it the use of the drug called Ecstacy. Thousands of young
people throughout Europe are reported to be taking this illegal drug every
weekend, some as a stimulant for dancing, others as an aphoridisiac.  But, one
British medical journal recently reported that Ecstacy can be lethal.  And in
order to gage the drug's true effects, are colleagues at Mtv Europe have been
doing some research.  Here's their report.
 
        Jump cut to dark shot of rave, text overlayed says in a cyberdelic
        tone:  "XTC", "snowdrop", barrel", "MDMA".  Jump cut to a doctor,
        then another 1, then another 1, etc....
 
DR. JOHN HENRY (NAT. POISONS UNIT, LONDON):  It's a mood enhancer, and it's
also an amphetamine.
 
DR. ERIK FROMBERG (N.I.A.D., UTRECHT):  It takes away social fears.
 
DR.  GIEL VAN BRUSSEL (DRUG DEP. AMSTERDAM):  It's a stimulant.
 
DR. E. F.:  It's certainly not a sexual stimulant.
 
DR. J. H.:  When people started using it as a dance drug, then they found that
it hieghtened the effects of dancing, so then it developed a completely new
life of it's own.
 
        Jump cut to shot of Prodigy dancers.
        Jump back to this doctor.
 
DR. G. V. B.:  I think the implicit reason of taking ecstacy is in effect a
kind of signal to people themselves that they would like to have more intensive
contact with other people and needing for instance sexual contact.
 
        Jump to shot of Jaap Jamin
 
JAAP JAMIN (JELLINEK CENTRE, AMSTERDAM):  People who started using the drug,
many of them stopped, why?  Because the substance, the drug, didn't live up to
their expectations.
 
        Another rave backdrop, from a music video.  (can't tell which).
        Reporter's voice overlayed, newspaper clippings show up on screen
        overlayed on rave shots.
 
MTV E:  Much of the concern that has been expressed over widespread use of
Ecstacy has been generated by the tabloid newspapers.  They warn the drug can
kill.
 
        Jump to 808 State (just Martin, Graham, and Darren if I'm not mistaken)
siting in mixing studio.
 
808:  There are worsers drugs then ecstacy out there, ya know, that've been out
there for yars and years and years.
 
        Jump to Alex Patterson in that same damn hat.
 
ORB:  Drugs scenes and music scenes have gone hand in hand for 30 years now.
 
        Jump to Neneh Cherry.
 
CHERRY:  No drug's safe...right?
 
        Rave scene again, reporter's voiceover.
 
MTV E:   But Dr. John Henry, a leading toxologist [?], has published an article
has published an article to the same effect, in the leading medical journal The
Lancet.
 
        Cut to doctor.
 
DR. J. H.:  We've reported 7 cases, but there have been at least 25 cases in
this country, of people who've died while using ecstacy.
 
        Cut to Jamin.
 
JAMIN:  A lot of the deaths that Dr. Henry discovered, I think were caused by
the heat stroke. You take ecstacy, your body temp. rises.  Secondly, you are in
a very hot club.  Thirdly, you start to dance fo four five six hours and you
don;'t take a rest.  Fourthly, you wear a hat.  Heat stays inside your body.
So, it's, I think it's a very normal reaction for your body to get overheated,
and then people die.
 
        Cut to doctor.
 
DR. J. H.: Although people who died of heatstroke, it was definitely an effect
of ecstacy.
 
        Jump cut to 'Everything starts with an E".  Voiceover.
 
MTV E:  Doctors also agree that one problem facing those who wish to take the
drug, is that true ecstacy, or MDMA, is actually very hard to find.
 
        Jump to "I'm gong to get high til the day I die."
        Jump to 808 snippet.
 
808:  People don't know what they're taking anymore.  So of course they're
being guinnea pigs all the time.
 
        Jump to E testing facility.  Voiceover.
 
MTV E:  Safehouses, where you can test the purity of the drug, hav been set up
in Dutch raves and clubs.  And go some way, in dealing with the problem.  But
due to the lack of research there is still genuine concern as to the long-term
effects of general ecstacy use.
 
        Shot of "Test yer E" sign.
        Jump to Jamin.
 
JAMIN:  People get chronically depressive, if you are a heavy user.
 
        Jump to doctor, rave shot side by side.
 
DR. J. H.:  People take i, because they want to, and they may enjoy the dancing
and he singing, so they may take it again and again.  I'm afraid I see the
really worst side of it.  I get told about the people who've died, who've had
their lives destroyed.  So I can't really speak up in favor of it, I'm afraid.
 
        X..X.....ECSTACY.....
 
--

    ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu	        FutureCulture:  In/f0rmation
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Newsgroups: alt.rave