Ecstasy and the transition of 'child ' to 'adult'

I am curently writhing my final year disertation at Lancaster University
on Ecstasy and Youth. My argument is that Ecstasy is now the second most
used drug in Britain and the majority of people who take it are aged
between 16-25 yrs old. For this reason I argue that Ecstasy is going to
play a prominant part in the transition of 'child ' to 'adult' status,
and so there are many things we need to address which relate specifically
to Ecstasy use and Youth. These include 1/ How Ecstasy is related to the
dance culture and how it is used. 2/ Harm Reduction Strategies - How do
we relate these to the youth group specifically. 3/ Health Aspects -
There are many issues arising here including education, telling the truth
about the drug, issues surrounding poly-drug use, sex and Ecstasy,
problems which may or may not arise. 4/ Criminal Justice Issues - How
will the Criminal Justice System cope with a very possible backlog of
first time offenders on Class A Drug charges? 5/ The Media - Why do they
get it wrong - What is there political agenda? What effect does the media
portrayal of the drug have upon it's users and non-users.
I know there is a lot here and many people believe that I am being very
optomistic in finding conclusions to these answers. However, that is my
whole point. The illegality of the drug means that you cannot carry out
effective research on the drug if you are studying it at the level that I
am. I am asking these questions because I believe that they are very
valid and someone has to ask them.

Ruthy Francis <r.francis@lancaster.ac.uk>