BOULDER, Colo. -- Sheriff's deputies and the mother of an unconscious 16-year-old warned that a tainted batch of the drug ecstasy may be in circulation. An overdose left the girl in a coma Saturday, and she remained in critical condition in a coma Tuesday night.

The pills under investigation contain a four-leaf clover design (pictured, right)

"I think it's really important parents become aware of how rampant ecstasy use is," Marcie Chambers said Monday as her daughter, Brittney, lay in a coma at Boulder Community Hospital.

Marcie Chambers said doctors were not hopeful her daughter would emerge from the coma. "We're not giving up yet," she said. "We're praying. We could use all the prayers we could get."

Sheriff's Detective Mike Linden said that the girl took an overdose of ecstasy at her 16th birthday party on Sunday at her Superior home.

Others who took the tablets at the party were taken to area hospitals and released, Linden said.

Ecstasy causes euphoria but can produce dangerous side effects, including strokes and heart attacks, health officials said. It is often used at rave parties.

Chambers said that too few parents have acknowledged how widespread ecstasy use has become. "Until people wake up and realize it, it will not be fixed," she said

Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Barber said that deputies will question students at Monarch High School in Superior, which Brittney Chambers attended until moving to Phoenix in August to live with her father.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation was expected to analyze ecstasy tablets found at the party.

Boulder Valley School District officials said that ecstasy use is not widespread at Monarch or elsewhere in the district. Monarch Principal Bill Johnson said that the school of 1,430 students had no prior cases involving ecstasy.

Deputy superintendent Mack Clark said that the district had only one other documented case involving ecstasy this school year.

Marcie Chambers said that she supervised her daughter's party and banned alcohol and marijuana. "It didn't occur to me to say, 'No ecstasy,' " she said. "It wasn't even in my wildest dreams."

Previous Stories:

• January 29, 2001: Girl In Critical Condition After Consuming 'Ecstasy' Drug

Additional Resources:

• A Discussion For Parents About Ecstasy
• Facts About Ecstasy
• What Ecstasy Does
• What are club drugs?
• Club Drugs, Just The Facts
• Seven-part series for students in grades 5 - 9 to learn about the effects of drug abuse on the body and the brain.

Previous Stories:

• January 04, 2001: U.S. Drug Chief Sees Big Rise In Ecstasy Use
• January 04, 2001: What Is Ecstasy?
• December 27, 2000: Toddler May Have Swallowed Mom's Ecstasy
• November 27, 2000: Study: Teenage Ecstasy Use Up
• May 16, 2000: Light Use Of Ecstasy Can Dull Intelligence