Ecstasy Rape In New York

From the Journal News, in Westchester Co., New York:

A married Ossining man raped a New Jersey woman over the weekend, after his girlfriend slipped a drug into the victim's drink, police said.

Kevin Nowell, 41, of 21 Stone Ave., Ossining, was charged yesterday with two felonies — first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sex act — in connection with the Sunday morning incident at the Beacon Hill Drive apartment of his 24-year-old girlfriend.

The girlfriend, Jessica Jacobson, was arrested Sunday after the victim told Dobbs Ferry police she had been sexually assaulted just before 2:30 that morning. The 23-year-old victim was a friend of Jacobson's who went to the apartment late Saturday night to hang out with her. Police said Jacobson invited her there so that Nowell could have sex with her.

Jacobson works as a gymnastics instructor for The Little Gym in Bedford. She was charged with facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance, accused of putting Ecstasy into the woman's drink.

Nowell slapped her and pulled her hair as he raped and sodomized her after she became weak from the mixture of Ecstasy and alcohol, police said.

She called police after going to an emergency room for treatment.

Nowell, a home health-care nurse, faces up to 25 years and Jacobson up to seven years in state prison if convicted.

Ecstasy Use Drops In England

It appears that those of us who are concerned about the risks of designer drugs may be making headway. The Economist reports in its 9/3 issue:

According to the British Crime Survey, the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds who used amphetamines in the previous 12 months fell from 12% in 1996 to 4% last year. Ecstasy has also become less popular, which is surprising given falling prices: in many places, a pill now costs less than a pint of beer.

"It's a fashion thing," says Matthew Atha, of the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, which tracks drug users' preferences. He believes that young people are switching from illegal highs to legal ones as tastes change and messages about the dangers of ecstasy and other recreational drugs sink in.

Unfortunately, alcohol comes with its own risks, even though it's legal. Dr. Mike Ritter, who provides medical commentary in my film, worries more about alcohol's impact on young people than any other drug.

I included quite a bit of information on alcohol in the teen version of the film -- which currently is for sale at a reduced price in a back to school special.