I read with interest the article in the Aug. 16 paper, “Parents in denial, despair as teens’ drug use in school grows.” Until three-and-a-half months ago, my husband and I certainly were in denial.  In addition, we were also quite clueless.

Our son Henry committed suicide on May 8 by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. It was totally unexpected and was the first of many shocks. The time since has been the most difficult in our lives, and we’ve spent a lot of it trying to figure out exactly what led to his decision to take his life. Thankfully, he left behind writings, logged computer conversations with his friends and text messages on his phone.

The next shock, after the initial worst one, came on the drive home from the hospital when I discovered a small Altoids tin in his personal effects containing several prescription drugs that did not come from our household. The following day, one of his friends came by to tell us that Henry had taken ecstasy. We had no idea what that was, but got a crash course the next morning when I called the police department to ask for information.

I hope that by sharing what I have learned about ecstasy in the last three-and-a-half months, I may be able to help prevent what happened to us from happening to somebody else.

Ecstasy (MDMA), methylenedioxymethamphetamine, goes by several other names; the one I dislike the most is the “Hug Drug.” It is inexpensive and readily available on most high school campuses, both private and public. Ecstasy became popular at rave parties because it allowed users to keep dancing for hours (and killed a few in the process due to overheating). A first-time ecstasy user will experience a tremendous high for about five to eight hours and then go down into the dumps a few days later. Serotonin levels in the brain will drop dramatically for up to two weeks afterwards, bringing on the feeling of depression. Other signs of ecstasy use include irritability, aggressive behavior, loss of appetite, anxiety attacks, panic attacks and an inability to sleep. In addition, there often is an acne-like rash on the face, which can be a sign of liver damage.

Our son exhibited just about all of those signs during the three weeks before his death. He always had logical explanations for everything: the unexpected death of a classmate, a relationship problem, the stress of upcoming AP tests, finals and the inevitable transition from high school to college. Still, we sought professional help for him, and there is a good chance that he might have been fine eventually, if ecstasy had only given him a chance.

Unfortunately, he took ecstasy the Friday before his death. Then, something set him off at school on Tuesday morning and he became yet another victim of ecstasy’s “Suicide Tuesday.” I read about the case of a young girl who threw herself under a train on a Tuesday after her boyfriend broke up with her. She had used ecstasy just once the weekend before. Henry had used ecstasy three times over a period of a month.

There is plenty more information about ecstasy available of the Web, and I’m including links to several sites I have found especially helpful:

•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenedioxymethamphetamine

•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_MDMA_on_the_human_body

•serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f01/web3/sterling.html

•www.maps.org/media/spi5.9.02.html

•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Tuesday

(Lew lives in Napa.)