NY- Ecstacy, the love drug that was all the rave in city clubs just a few years ago, has all but disappeared from the local scene, according to authorities.

Street seizures of the pills – a designer drug that surged in popularity four years ago – have declined greatly, along with the street price, Special Narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan told the Daily News.

In 2001, when Ecstasy was most prevalent in city clubs, authorities seized some 602,000 pills. At the time, the pills sold for as much as $35. They now sell for a fraction of that, sources said.

But over the last three years, the number of Ecstasy pills taken off the streets by police was so small that authorities didn’t even bother to break it out in their drug statistics, Brennan said.

At its peak, Ecstasy was a big seller for violent street gangs from Washington Heights to Bed-Stuy.

“We used to see much more Ecstasy peddled by street organizations,” Brennan said. “We’re just not seeing as many sales here. The popularity seems to have waned, and with it the commercial value.”

Still, the New York division of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which covers New York City and all of New York State, is seizing substantial numbers of Ecstasy pills. Authorities say the feds, and not the local cops, are making the seizures because they are targeting kingpins. That means ecstasy shipments are being intercepted before they hit the streets or get shipped across the country, agents said.

“We’re trying to get the leaders, some international, before they get to local dealers,” said John Gilbride, DEA special agent in charge of the New York Division.

The DEA seized some 640,759 Ecstasy pills in New York in 2001, and 686,973 pills this year.

Ecstasy is said to give users a mood-mellowing sense of euphoria that lessens inhibitions and increases energy.