Introduction
Appearance and use
Cost
Purity
The Effects
Chances of Getting Hooked
The Risks
The Law

The original designer drug. Ecstasy shot to fame in the early 90's as the rave culture took off and clubbers took it to stay awake and dance for hours. An estimated 500,000* people take it every weekend. There's a lot of controversy about the long term side effects of E. Some evidence suggests it can damage the brain causing long term problems.


*Source: www.drugscope.org.uk

ID: E, pills, brownies, burgers, disco biscuits, hug drug, 'Mitsubishi's', 'Rolex's', 'Dolphin's', XTC

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Appearance and Use

Pure Ecstasy is a white crystalline powder known to chemists as MDMA. Ecstasy sold on the street is usually in tablet form although it's getting more common to see it sold as powder. E's come in all sorts of colours and some of them have pictures or logos stamped into them.
They are usually swallowed although some people do smoke or snort them.


The effects take about half an hour to kick in and tend to last between 3 to 6 hours, followed by a gradual comedown. It's the drug of choice for many clubbers and 4% of 16-25 year olds have taken some in the last 3 months.


People have been known to take another E because they haven't come up. The danger is both E's kick in and you have a double dose to deal with.

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Cost

Between £3 and £8 depending on the type of pill you buy and where you live.

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Purity

A big problem with E's nowadays is that they're rarely pure. It's cheaper to make them with amphetamine, caffeine, and substances that would feel more at home under your kitchen sink.


Some of the new manmade drugs like PMA and 4MTA are often passed off as E. Their effects can be very different and they may take longer to kick-in with a risk of double-dosing to compensate (and double the side effects).

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The Effects

• E gives people an energy buzz that makes them feel alert and alive. Clubbers love it because it means they can dance for hours without feeling tired.
  
  
• Ecstasy can take anything between 20 and 60 minutes to kick in.
  
  
• E makes people feel in tune with their surroundings. Sounds and colours feel more intense. A certain track of music can suddenly take on a spiritual significance.
  
  
• E makes emotions feel more intense. Users often feel great love for the people they're with and the strangers around them. E taken on its own is not a drug that makes people violent.
  
  
• Lots of people feel chatty on E. (These chats don't always make sense to people who aren't on E).
  
  
• E dilates the pupils, produces a tingling feeling, tightens the jaw muscles, raises the body temperature and makes the heart beat faster.

There is a flip side:

• People who aren't on E aren't always best pleased at being hugged by someone who's really sweaty. Or having their girlfriend/boyfriend chatted up by a random stranger.
  
  
• Short-term effects can include anxiety, panic attacks, confused episodes, first-time epileptic fits and paranoia. Long term use can cause depression, personality change and memory loss.
  
  
• No one knows what an E's got in it until they've swallowed it. There may be negative side effects from other ingredients in the tablet.
  
  
• E can makes users feel a bit down afterwards.
  

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• There have been over 200 ecstasy related deaths in the UK since 1996. Some are linked to the way ecstasy controls the body's temperature control mechanism. E can cause the body's temperature to rise to dangerously high levels. Some deaths have been linked to other drugs like PMA which have been sold as ecstasy.
  
  
• Using E has also been linked to liver, kidney and heart problems. Anyone using too much can get paranoid and depressed as well.
  
  
• Ecstasy affects the body's temperature control. Dancing for long periods in a hot atmosphere increases the chances of overheating and dehydration. If you’ve taken E, make sure you take regular breaks from the dance floor to cool down, especially if it's rammed. Watch out for your mates. People can get so out of their faces they don't realise they're in danger of overheating or getting dehydrated. Reduce the risks by sipping no more than a pint of water or non-alcoholic fluid every hour.
  
  
• Drinking too much can be dangerous or even fatal. The drug can cause the body to release a hormone which prevents the production of urine. This means that if you drink a few pints of liquid too quickly, it interferes with your body's salt balance which can be as deadly as not drinking enough water.
  
  
• Some long-term users report getting colds, flu and sore throats more often. But then staying awake for 24 hours is always going to give your immune system a battering.
  
  
• There is speculation that the exhaustion and dehydration associated with E can activate urine infections like cystitis in women.
  
  
• E's can contain toxic other chemicals like MPTP, a drug known to cause irreversible Parkinson's disease. It's highly unlikely that many E's have MPTP in them. But the point is that taking E is a gamble.
  
  
• Anyone with a heart condition, blood pressure problems, epilepsy or asthma can have a very dangerous reaction to the drug.
  

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The Law

Ecstasy is a Class A drug

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