For the past several years, the United States Customs Service has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the smuggling of Ecstasy. The numbers speak for themselves: in 1999, Customs seized 3 and a half million tablets of the drug, a seven-fold increase over the 400,000 tablets seized in 1997. We've already shattered that record in the first half of 2000, with seizures so far totaling about eight million tablets. U.S. Customs Seizure Statistics

What accounts for this explosion? For one thing, greed. Criminal gangs are lining up to reap the irresistible profit margins offered by Ecstasy sales. This bag of Ecstasy, seized at Dulles Airport earlier this year, contains about 5,000 pills. Each pill costs pennies to make. But that same pill retails for an average of 30 dollars on the street, making this whole bag worth approximately 150 thousand dollars to dealers.

The vast majority of the drug is produced in the Netherlands. Smugglers export Ecstasy directly from Dutch cities and move it across open European borders to other hubs such as Brussels, Frankfurt, and Paris.

The Dominican Republic, Suriname and Curacao have also become major transshipment points for Ecstasy; so much so that this year, the number of our seizures from these countries has outstripped seizures from Europe.

New York, California, and Florida are the primary "gateways" through which Ecstasy is smuggled into the United States. Each of these states contain high concentrations of the young adults to whom Ecstasy is marketed, and major cities with thriving nightclub scenes notable for "raves."

This chart shows the clever ways traffickers market Ecstasy to their clientele. The pills are embossed with attractive logos, all designed to build brand loyalty and a false belief in the harmlessness of the drug.

Our work has shown that Ecstasy use has spread well beyond urban centers, to suburban and rural communities as well. We've made big seizures in states like Utah and Alabama, not exactly hot beds of smuggling otherwise.

Israeli crime groups dominate the distribution of the drug, but other violent trafficking organizations are getting involved. The fact is, Ecstasy is attracting some of the worst the criminal world has to offer. That's a major concern. But more disturbing are the health risks it poses to our young people.

You've heard from Doctor Vereen about the physical consequences of Ecstasy use. He and a growing body of medical experts have exposed the indisputable truth about the drug, one its defenders continue to deny. At a minimum, Ecstasy can cause serious long-term damage to regular users. And at its worst, it can kill.

The Customs Service, from its vantage point along our nation's borders, is uniquely positioned to play a major role in combating the flow of Ecstasy into the United States. Our cross-disciplinary task force of special agents, inspectors, and intelligence analysts tracks the latest trends in smuggling, and coordinates Customs response.

We've found that Ecstasy smuggling groups tend to be highly compartmentalized, from production to distribution. Each part tends to operate independently, making the organization difficult to penetrate. Identifying the leaders of these global organizations is tough work.

Like smugglers of other drugs, Ecstasy carriers fit no simple description. Well-to-do tourists, travelling mainly from Europe, have been caught with Ecstasy strapped tightly to their bodies. Smuggling groups also use juveniles, families, and college students studying abroad.

Just recently, Customs and the Drug Enforcement Administration brought down a major international smuggling ring estimated to have imported nine million tablets into the United States. A year-long, painstaking investigation code-named "Paris Express" took down the Jacob Orgad network. Orgad is an Israeli émigré who was based in Los Angeles and maintained cells in New York, Paris, the Netherlands and Brussels.

The ring employed everyone from cocktail waitresses, to exotic dancers, to families posing as tourists to ferry the drug from overseas. It also used decoys travelling on the same flight as real smugglers. The decoys dressed in ways they thought would attract the attention of our inspectors, while the more conservative looking Ecstasy carriers tried to slip by.

Unfortunately, it's not only passengers we have to watch out for. Ecstasy comes to us in the smallest mail packs, in all forms of luggage, and in commercial shipments too. Express delivery services offer another extremely popular method of concealment.

The drug's compact size makes smuggling options almost infinite. Here are just a few examples of how creative it can get. [PHOTOS]

This load was seized in a large easter egg. Another came in disguised as a gift box.

As part of our counter-smuggling efforts, we're training more drug-detecting dogs to alert to Ecstasy. They've been posted to several major international airports and mail facilities.

We also recently sent three Customs investigators to Amsterdam to assess the situation in the primary source country. We're looking to bolster an already strong relationship with the Dutch police, who are committed to stemming the flow of Ecstasy but face difficult odds. Trafficking in the drug continues to grow and it's clear we must do more, together, to address it.

As much as we're doing, the truth is it will never be enough as long as America's appetite for Ecstasy remains strong. In the end, our best defense is less demand. That's why we've put a message to parents up on our website - www.customs.gov - about the dangers of Ecstasy. Our web site also links to sites that offer more medical information on the harm Ecstasy can do to kids.

We're extremely pleased the Congress has taken such an active role in raising the profile of this issue. The tougher penalties this caucus is proposing on Ecstasy trafficking can only help send the message that this is no harmless drug, and that those who seek to profit from putting America's youth at risk will pay dearly for their crimes.