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Former UW student pleads guilty in drug case

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A former University of Wisconsin student charged last spring for conspiracy to move Ecstasy pled guilty Tuesday to distributing the drug.

Matthew Louie, 23, of Williamsburg, Va., a former UW international relations major, was among six people charged for distributing more than 100,000 pills from January 2000 to December 2001.

Two other UW students, Ashkan Faradieh and Ghassan Majdalani, were also charged in the case.

The three were named along with two former Penn State students in an April 26 indictment alleging they were involved in a plan to ship the drug from Pennsylvania and Florida to Wisconsin before distributing it on and around the UW campus.

Louie will be sentenced Nov. 22 and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

The other five will enter pleas in September.

Ecstasy is most often distributed at raves, rock concerts and nightclubs. An overdose of the drug could produce high blood pressure, faintness, panic attacks, seizures and a drastic rise in body temperature, according to a publication by the United States Department of Justice.

Michael Sievert, a scientist with the UW pharmacology department, said Ecstasy produces effects much like those of the drug speed. He said it takes a normal physical function — releasing neurotransmitters from the brain to bodily cells — and speeds it up.

In high doses, the drug can lead to muscle breakdown, kidney and heart failure and death.

Louie previously pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of cocaine in October 2000.