Dangerous drug: Parents of girl who died from taking Ecstasy are on mission to educate others

Jace Radke

Friday, April 19, 2002 | 10:55 a.m.

www.nvbest.org

www.drugfreeamerica.org

James Heird can't remember all of the interviews he has given since his 21-year-old daughter, Danielle, died after taking Ecstasy almost two years ago.

Appearing on talk shows and doing public service announcements about the dangers of the drug that took his daughter's life have become part of his daily life.

The 61-year-old carries a tattered leather satchel that contains a stack of dog-eared papers, studies -- and newspaper clippings like the simple black and white full-page advertisement showing his daughter's death certificate that ran in Tuesday's New York Times.

"I don't know how much longer I'll do this because it's not easy," Heird said. "I get asked to talk about Ecstasy and my daughter, and I wonder how much I can do.

"But then I'll get an e-mail from someone saying our story helped them and I ask myself how I can stop."

Heird, his wife, Elsa, and their daughter, who died in July 2000 after taking Ecstasy and spending a night out at C2K, a club at the Venetian, are the focus of a national ad campaign by the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

Print and television ads and a website (www.drugfreeamerica.org) are designed to introduce people to the Heirds' daughter, a graduate of Bishop Gorman High School who talked about becoming a radiologist, partnership spokesman Howard Simon said.

"We want to get the word out that Ecstasy is not a low-risk drug, and nothing works as well as hearing from the people that have experienced it firsthand," Simon said. "We want to peel back the myths and rumors and show that this is an addictive, neurotoxic drug."

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is a synthetic mind-altering drug often used by all-night party-goers. The drug can increase body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure, which can result in death.

Ecstasy use is skyrocketing among teens and young adults, with more than 12 percent of teens in the country reporting that they've tried the drug at least once. This is up from 10 percent in 2000 and 5 percent in 1995.

The drug enjoys a reputation of offering a low-risk, high-benefit experience, and authorities like Detective Todd Raybuck, of Metro Police's narcotics unit, find themselves battling against what Heird calls a false positive image.

"Ecstasy is just like cocaine was in the '80s," Raybuck said. "We don't know a lot about it, and people with degrees and titles in front of their names are saying it's not a very fatal drug, as if there are different levels of fatality.

"It took 10 years to prove to the American public that cocaine was dangerous."

Cavalier mentions of the drug on websites and in movies, music and television shows have pushed it from the rave scene into mainstream culture, Raybuck said.

"It has filtered virtually everywhere," Raybuck said. "It's spread much faster than other drugs. Methamphetamine has been a problem we've been fighting in the West for 10 or 15 years, but it is just now getting to the Midwest, and if you ask cops in New York about meth they don't know what you're talking about.

"In three years Ecstasy has gone from coast to coast and has proliferated all the way down to the schools."

Emergency room statistics bear out Raybuck's assessment.

In 1994 there were 253 reported emergency room visits due to Ecstasy, compared with 1,143 in 1998, 2,850 in 1999 and 4,511 in 2000, according to a survey by the Drug Abuse Warning Network.

"The scary thing is that's only the ones that go to the hospital," Raybuck said. "We have to work to get information out there, and ads like the Heirds' are an unbelievable way to do it.

"How could seeing (Danielle's death certificate) not wake someone up?"

The Heirds are also working with the Bringing Everyone's Strengths Together Coalition, a local nonprofit organization that serves as a clearinghouse for information on drugs and drug abuse in Southern Nevada.

Rosemary Flores, head of the coalition, recently started a peer counseling group with Metro Police to inform teens about the dangers of Ecstasy.

"We just had our first meeting and the impact of seeing a young person tell another young person the facts about the drug was phenomenal," Flores said. "It means so much more coming from their peers."

The Heirds say they can see education starting to take hold from the e-mails they receive from those who visit the Drug Free America site and see the slide show that tells Danielle's story.

One e-mail from a young woman reads, "I commend you ... for trying to reach out to others by creating the Ecstasy website because I too was thinking about using this drug, but after reading about your daughter ... I realized it's not for me."

Elsa Heird estimates that she and her husband receive about six to 10 e-mails a day as a result of the website.

The Heirds are pursuing a lawsuit against the Venetian, C2K and the two men they say provided Danielle with the drug, which could bring even more attention to the potentially deadly side effects of Ecstasy. The trial is scheduled for August 2003 in Clark County District Court.

"We're hopeful that people are hearing about our daughter's story, and that her death is not in vain," Elsa Heird said. "If anyone listens it's a good thing."