Ecstasy

[syrnypolice]

I was just wondering.
I have seen a lot about the drug Ecstasy on the news lately. I wanted to know what category this type of drug fell into. Is it considered to be as bad and as dangerous as drugs such as heroin or cocaine, or is more along the lines of marijuana? How do police officers view this drug? What is it comparable to?
Keeping in mind that I know all drugs are bad.

[Jynkxxie]

I am not a cop, but I would put it in the LSD/PCP cat.

[md123]

i am not a cop either, but this is bad stuff. goes into the designer drug category, and can often contain meth or heroine or whatever. I think it was originally created to circumnavigate drug laws as a substance which is like other drugs (molecularly) but legal, because it is a different substance than what was illegal at the time. Now, it is illegal, of course, and dangerous because you never know what it really is. "Real" ecstacy is supposedly to be MDMA.

[LawGurl32]

Ecstacy is an amphetamine. It falls into the same category as meth. Their chemical makeup is very similar. When you take this drug it is just like taking a bunch of allergy pills in combination with drano (yes that is one of the ingredients in the drug). What makes this drug so bad is that the people manufacturing the drug arent skilled chemists. You will never know the chemical makeup of the drug and it will never be the same. Often people will die of drug overdoses from one pill because the intensity of it. The labs they manufacture the drugs in called "clandestine laboratories" or "clan labs" for short are very dangerous. Law Enforcement has to be very careful because the labs are unstable and could explode at anytime. They are declared Hazmat incidents when they are being cleaned up.

Stay away from this stuff. Dont EVER take it! If you know of a lab somewhere or a dealer report them.

[Drew27k9]

MDMA (Ecstasy)

Street terms for MDMA/Ecstasy: XTC, go, X, Adam, hug drug1

What does Ecstasy look like?

Ecstasy is distributed in tablet form. Individual tablets are often imprinted with graphic designs or commercial logos, and typically contain 100 mg of MDMA.
How is Ecstasy used?

Ecstasy is usually ingested in tablet form, but can also be crushed and snorted, injected, or used in suppository form.
Who uses Ecstasy?

In 2000, more than 6.4 million people age 12 and older reported that they have used Ecstasy at least once in their lives.
Ecstasy is popular among middle-class adolescents and young adults.
Ecstasy is sold primarily at legitimate nightclubs and bars, at underground nightclubs sometimes called "acid houses," or at all-night parties known as "raves."
How does Ecstasy get to the United States?

The vast majority of Ecstasy consumed domestically is produced in Europe.
A limited number of Ecstasy laboratories operate in the United States.
Law enforcement seized 17 clandestine Ecstasy laboratories in the United States in 2001 compared to 7 seized in 2000
How much does Ecstasy cost?

It costs as little as 25 to 50 cents to manufacture an Ecstasy tablet in Europe, but the street value of that same Ecstasy tablet can be as high as $40, with a tablet typically selling for between $20 and $30.
What are some of the consequences of using Ecstasy?

In addition to chemical stimulation, the drug reportedly suppresses the need to eat, drink, or sleep.
When taken at raves, where all-night dancing usually occurs, the drug often leads to severe dehydration and heat stroke in the user since it has the effect of "short-circuiting" the body's temperature signals to the brain.
An Ecstasy overdose is characterized by a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, faintness, muscle cramping, panic attacks, and, in more severe cases, loss of consciousness or seizures. One of the side effects of the drug is jaw muscle tension and teeth grinding. As a consequence, Ecstasy users will often suck on pacifiers to help relieve the tension.
Ecstasy may cause hyperthermia, muscle breakdown, seizures, stroke, kidney and cardiovascular system failure, possible permanent damage to sections of brain critical to thought and memory, and death.

[Oldbillplod]

Ecxtasy is bad news in the UK, it is often used by partygoers to give them an instant high.
The downside is it doesn't agree with some people and they die, steer clear from it.

[LawGurl32]

Ecstacy causes you to have boundless and limitless amounts of energy. You will not be able to sleep. It causes your body to reach abnormal highs. That is why a lot of people that consume the drug dehydrate. They use the pacifier because people tend to grind their teeth while under the influence.

[dragonspider]

From what I've heard, many people become super-addicted to it, because it takes you so high.... and then when it wears off, you feel miserable, and need the drug to get you back up again.... I've never touched it myself, but I know some that have, and it can really impact your life, and when you die, it'll change the lives of those that cared about you too.

[Samuel]

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html

[Pharley]

From the ABC press release:
The rise of Ecstasy is a major event in drug history. If current trends continue, 1.8 million Americans will try Ecstasy for the first time in 2004; only marijuana will attract more new users. Overwhelming, positive word of mouth has made Ecstasy a nightmare for drug controllers. On a special edition of 'Primetime Thursday' Peter Jennings tells the epic story of Ecstasy that has never been heard.

In the 1990s, Ecstasy seemed to come out of nowhere to join marijuana, cocaine and heroin as one of the four most widely used illegal drugs in the country. No other drug has ever spread so fast. To halt its spread, the U.S. Government has spent millions of dollars making a dramatic case against Ecstasy as a dangerous drug. The headline of this campaign has been that Ecstasy causes massive brain damage.
But this is a claim based on flawed science, and many Ecstasy users now feel their government has no credibility. What do we know about the real risks of Ecstasy? Has the government been its own worst enemy in the fight to stop the drug's use? Peter Jennings Reporting: 'Ecstasy Rising' takes viewers through the seminal events in this story and introduces all the major players -- from Alexander Shulgin, the famous chemist who was the first person to report the effects of Ecstasy, to Michael Clegg, the Dallas businessman who gave Ecstasy its name and turned it into a recreational drug, to the drug enforcement officer who led the fight to make Ecstasy illegal, to the DJ who brought Rave to America. This special tells the definitive story of how an obscure compound, discovered in 1912 and all but forgotten for over 60 years, became the drug of choice for a generation.


You can download current findings on this drug through new, unbiased, nongovermental science in this link below. Zip files.
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

May be sad but true.

[house]

From what I've heard, many people become super-addicted to it, because it takes you so high.... and then when it wears off, you feel miserable, and need the drug to get you back up again

I've never heard of someone becoming addicted. I'm not saying it can't happen but some of you guys make it sound like crack or heroin.

[txinvestigator1]

It is a neuro-toxin. How is it different from crack or heroin?

[house]

Alot of things can be "neurotoxin" in relative doses.

A lack of sleep can have an affect on your nervous system. Would you compare crack and heroin to being tired?

[codered]

house, read the above description and definitions by drew(it pretty much covers all the bases). Furthermore, many experts do give research indicating addiction that may lead to a generation of people that will be manic depressive(as referred to by 'dragon'), by abusing X.

House, you need to research this drug more, before defending it .......why you are tending to do so , i tend to wonder why. By the way, if you OD on 'x', you generally tend to die(please refer to 'drew's' above article)........does 'this' in and of itself not make 'x' more dangerous than lets say ..... meth, where people don't generally die from an overdose?

[ngcsubutterbar]

what is with the connection between the drug and freaky sex/extreme hornyness? Is there one or is that only something shown on media outlets?