Information on ecstasy use was gathered from 209 juvenile offenders residing in Prince Georges County, Maryland over a 2 month period in 2000. (223 were approached for participation.) Demographic questionnaires and drug use history questionnaires were collected, and urine was screened from respondents for presence of drugs, with specific tests used to detect urinary MDMA. 5/209 (0.02%) reported lifetime use of ecstasy, but no use in the last 12 months, and of the 204 remaining respondents, 33/204 (16%) reported using ecstasy in the past 12 months, whereas 171/204 (84%) reported no ecstasy use. No one reported using ecstasy in the two days prior to study day, and urinary analysis confirmed this, with cannabis, cocaine and PCP being the most commonly detected substances. Juvenile offenders reporting ecstasy use were more likely to be White (82% users versus 22% non-users) and female (45% users versus 20% non-users), and they were most likely to be aged 16-17 (70% ecstasy users versus 45% non-users). They were also more likely not to attend school (39% users versus 20% non-users). These findings with respect to demographics of ecstasy users is particularly striking in a sample that was 66% African-American, 76% male and 76% still in school, though the most common age of sample was also 16-17 (47%). There was no significant association between ecstasy use and any specific offense (including miscellaneous, property offenses, personal offenses and drug or alcohol offenses). Nevertheless, it is notable that 33% of users were arrested for miscellaneous offenses and 25% for drug or alcohol offenses, compared with 21% each for property and personal offenses. Drug offenses were lower, and personal and property offenses higher in non-users. It would appear that 18% of juvenile offenders overall used ecstasy when former users are included. The authors indicate that rate of ecstasy use reported by juvenile offenders is 3 times greater than the 7-12% reported in high school samples. Study findings indicate that juvenile offenders use ecstasy and other drugs at higher rates than non-offenders, but that offenders reporting ecstasy users may not be typical of juvenile offenders as a whole, at least in the region under examination. It should be noted that previous studies have found that men were more likely to use ecstasy than women (Boys et al. 1997; Pedersen et al. 2000), and that to date only one case found more women than men reporting ecstasy use in a group of Scottish dance event attendees (Riley et al. 2001).