By D. PARVAZ 
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER 

In the 1960s and early '70s, marijuana, LSD and mushrooms were thought of as the undoing of the youth.

Well, the Age of Aquarius is over. The undoing is undone. Many baby boomers experimented and most survived. They tuned in, turned on, dropped out, then dropped back in and bought Volvos. Some of them voted for Reagan. Twice.

Bill Clinton -- the guy who "didn't inhale" -- is slogging through his second term in office, and the next big threat to the youth of America changes every week. 

It's rock music. It's goths. And, yes, it's still drugs.

But these aren't the love-drugs of the boomer generation. To today's teens and twentysomethings who do drugs, those vices just don't cut it. They prefer the less organic highs of Ecstasy, ketamine, GHB and inhalants -- the party drugs of the late '90s.

Most young adults who use these drugs have no idea what they're getting, where the drugs come from, or what the effects might be on their bodies. Plus, they indiscriminately mix and match them.

People seldom know what they're getting into with these party drugs. It's a bit like ordering a green salad at a restaurant, being served meat loaf instead, eating it, and not being sure why the salad tasted funny. The disparities ought to be obvious, but because some users aren't educated about drugs, vital differences go unnoticed.

Here's the really scary part: If users don't know what they're taking, how can they determine how much of it to take? 

Nationwide statistics provided by the Drug Awareness Warning Network list 637 Ecstasy-related emergency room episodes in 1996 (the latest available data). That's a significant increase from the 68 recorded just three years earlier.

The network recorded 20 GHB-related emergency room episodes in '92. By '96, the number had jumped to 629.

Local statistics are sketchier.

A December report on drug use in Seattle and King County issued by the Department of Public Health says deaths involving depressants such as Rohypnol and GHB are up 63.2 percent from 1995.

The report, which includes data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, has ample statistics on the use of drugs such as heroin and marijuana. But there are few official statistics on GHB, ketamine and Ecstasy -- only statements that Ecstasy and GHB are "reported to be commonly used."

The decision to take drugs should never be made lightly, but that's exactly what happens. New-generation drug users hear stories about what could go right during a drug trip -- euphoric stories filled with spiritual epiphanies.

What they may not hear is what could go wrong. The person selling them the stuff at a party or club isn't going to tell them. Yet, for a person faced with the decision to use or refuse these drugs, having accurate information can be vital.

That's where Wilkie Wilson, a Duke University professor of pharmacology, comes in. Wilson is making it his mission to spread unbiased, scientific information on drug use.

Co-author of "Buzzed: The Straight Facts on the Most Used and Abused Drugs, from Alcohol to Ecstasy," (Norton, 304 pages, $14.95), Wilson is concerned about the lack of information on drug use.

"I am really on a campaign to help institutions come to the realization that we have to teach respect for the brain," he says.

"You know, we teach so much respect for the heart -- we eat low-fat diets, lower stress, exercise. We never talk about keeping our brains healthy in our society. . . . You don't poison what you have a sense of respect for."

Wilson's voice is heavy with frustration as he talks about how we routinely poison our brains with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

But he makes it clear he is appealing to the intellect of drug users rather than resorting to the conventional scare tactics.

"Rather than saying 'Just say no,' say 'Respect your brain,'" says Wilson. "When you try to warn about dangers that are improbable, you lose your credibility." 

If Wilson's method of informing rather than preaching seems controversial, it shouldn't.

Knowledge is power. It's the lack of it that puts so many young drug users in vulnerable situations.

Even the Drug Enforcement Administration, a federal body with a clear anti-drug stance, has a Web site -- www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/straight/cover.htm -- dedicated to providing teens with information about drugs.

Special Agent Juliana West, with the DEA in the Seattle field division, scoffs at the idea that giving youth information about drugs is a bad idea.

"Anyone who believes that is way off," says West. "We believe in informing kids on what drugs do to them. The 'Just say no' method just doesn't work. They don't listen to that."

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