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Ecstasy
Information
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what is
ecstasy?
MDMA or ecstasy is a
Schedule I synthetic, psychoactive drug possessing stimulant and hallucinogenic
properties. MDMA possesses chemical variations of the stimulant amphetamine or
methamphetamine and a hallucinogen, most often mescaline.
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Commonly referred to as
Ecstasy or XTC, MDMA was first synthesized in 1912 by a German company possibly
to be used as an appetite suppressant. Chemically, it is an analogue of MDA, a
drug that was popular in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, MDMA was used to
facilitate psychotherapy by a small group of therapists in the United States.
Illicit use of the drug did not become popular until the late 1980s and early
1990s. MDMA is frequently used in combination with other drugs. However, it is
rarely consumed with alcohol, as alcohol is believed to diminish its effects.
It is most often distributed at late-night parties called "raves," nightclubs,
and rock concerts. As the rave and club scene expands to metropolitan and
suburban areas across the country, MDMA use and distribution are increasing as
well.
how is ecstasy
used?
MDMA is most often
available in tablet form and is usually ingested orally. It is also available
as a powder and is sometimes snorted and occasionally smoked, but rarely
injected. Its effects last approximately four to six hours. Users of the drug
say that it produces profoundly positive feelings, empathy for others,
elimination of anxiety, and extreme relaxation. MDMA is also said to suppress
the need to eat, drink, or sleep, enabling users to endure two- to three-day
parties. Consequently, MDMA use sometimes results in severe dehydration or
exhaustion.
Hallucinogens
The incidence of
hallucinogen use has exhibited two notable periods of increase. Between 1965
and 1969, there was a tenfold increase in the estimated annual number of
initiates. This increase was driven primarily by the use of LSD. The second
period of increase in first-time hallucinogen use occurred from around 1992
until 2000, fueled mainly by increases in use of Ecstasy (i.e., MDMA) (Figure
5.2). Decreases in initiation of both LSD and Ecstasy were evident between 2001
and 2002, coinciding with an overall drop in hallucinogen incidence from 1.6
million to 1.1 million.
Initiation of Ecstasy use
increased from 1993 until 2001, when it peaked at 1.8 million new users. In
2002, the number declined to 1.1 million. Two thirds (66 percent) of new
Ecstasy users in 2002 were 18 or older, and 50 percent were
male.
Annual Numbers of New Users of Ecstasy,
LSD, and PCP: 1965–2002
short-term effects of
ecstasy?
While it is not as
addictive as heroin or cocaine, MDMA can cause other adverse effects including
nausea, hallucinations, chills, sweating, increases in body temperature,
tremors, involuntary teeth clenching, muscle cramping, and blurred vision. MDMA
users also report after-effects of anxiety, paranoia, and depression. An MDMA
overdose is characterized by high blood pressure, faintness, panic attacks,
and, in more severe cases, loss of consciousness, seizures, and a drastic rise
in body temperature. MDMA overdoses can be fatal, as they may result in heart
failure or extreme heat stroke.
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Short-term effects
of ecstasy
» nausea
»
hallucinations
» chills &
sweating
» increased body temp
» tremors
»
muscle cramping
» blurred vision
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The effects start after
about 20 minutes and can last for hours. There is a 'rush' feeling followed by
a feeling of calm and a sense of well being to those around, often with a
heightened perception of color and sound. Some people actually feel sick and
experience a stiffening up of arms, legs and particularly the jaw along with
sensations of thirst, sleeplessness, depression and paranoia. The drug gives a
feeling of energy and some mild hallucinogenic effects.
Many problems users
encounter with Ecstasy are similar to those found with the use of amphetamines
and cocaine. They include increases in heart rate and blood pressure, nausea,
blurred vision, faintness, chills, sweating, and such psychological problems as
confusion, depression, sleep problems, craving, severe anxiety, paranoia, and
psychotic episodes. Ecstasy's chemical cousin, MDA, destroys cells that produce
serotonin in the brain. These cells play a direct roll in regulating
aggression, mood, sexual activity, sleep, and sensitivity to pain.
Methamphetamine, also similar to Ecstasy, damages brain cells that produce
dopamine. Scientists have now shown that Ecstasy not only makes the brain's
nerve branches and endings degenerate, but also makes them regrow, but
abnormally - failing to reconnect with some brain areas and connecting
elsewhere with the wrong areas. These reconnections may be permanent, resulting
in cognitive impairments, changes in emotion, learning, memory, or hormone-like
chemical abnormalities
long-term
effects of ecstasy?
The effects of long-term
MDMA use are just beginning to undergo scientific analysis. In 1998, the
National Institute of Mental Health conducted a study of a small group of
habitual MDMA users who were abstaining from use. The study revealed that the
abstinent users suffered damage to the neurons in the brain that transmit
serotonin, an important biochemical involved in a variety of critical functions
including learning, sleep, and integration of emotion. The results of the study
indicate that recreational MDMA users may be at risk of developing permanent
brain damage that may manifest itself in depression, anxiety, memory loss, and
other neuropsychotic disorders.
MDMA stimulates the
release of the neurotransmitter serotonin from brain neurons, producing a high
that lasts from several minutes to an hour. The drug's rewarding effects vary
with the individual taking it, the dose and purity, and the environment in
which it is taken. MDMA can produce stimulant effects such as an enhanced sense
of pleasure and self-confidence and increased energy. Its psychedelic effects
include feelings of peacefulness, acceptance, and empathy. Users claim they
experience feelings of closeness with others and a desire to touch them.
Because MDMA engenders feelings of closeness and trust and has a short duration
of action, some clinicians claim that the drug is potentially valuable as a
psychotherapeutic agent. However, MDMA is classified by Federal regulators as a
drug with no accepted medical use.
where does ecstasy come
from?
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Clandestine laboratories
operating throughout Western Europe, primarily the Netherlands and Belgium,
manufacture significant quantities of the drug in tablet, capsule, or powder
form. Although the vast majority of MDMA consumed domestically is produced in
Europe, a limited number of MDMA labs operate in the United States. In
addition, in recent years, Israeli organized crime syndicates, some composed of
Russian exiles associated with Russian organized crime syndicates, have forged
relationships with Western European traffickers and gained control over a
significant share of the European market. The Israeli syndicates are currently
the primary source to U.S. distribution groups. |
Overseas MDMA trafficking
organizations smuggle the drug in shipments of 10,000 or more tablets via
express mail services, couriers aboard commercial airline flights, or, more
recently, through air freight shipments from several major European cities to
cities in the United States. The drug is sold in bulk quantity at the
mid-wholesale level in the United States for approximately eight dollars per
dosage unit. The retail price of MDMA sold in clubs in the United States
remains steady at twenty to thirty dollars per dosage unit. MDMA traffickers
consistently use brand names and logos as marketing tools and to distinguish
their product from that of competitors. The logos are produced to coincide with
holidays or special events. Among the more popular logos are butterflies,
lightning bolts, and four-leaf clovers.
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 Program Information
The Narconon program is
an effective solution to ecstasy addiction. The program handles the biochemical
side of ecstasy addiction where others do not.
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addiction
» the
cycle of addiction
» the biochemical aspects of addiction
» ending addiction the Narconon
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Ron Hubbard and the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation
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rehabilitation program
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