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| Together, these two data sources suggests that the large majority of MDMA users buy the drug themselves, and that a smaller proportion obtains it for free, despite marked differences among EU countries. Despite their image as risk-taking hedonists, people who use drugs recreationally do seek out and share harm reduction strategies, often alongside ‘pleasure maximisation’ strategies (the latter often requiring considerable knowledge of drug research, policy and practice). Given the right information and opportunities, most people who use drugs will make rational risk-management decisions when they do so. Given the option, it is clear that people who use MDMA and other drugs will embrace harm reduction approaches, and support their development. Harm reduction is not a principle that policy makers will need to force upon people who use MDMA or other drugs in nightlife and party settings. Significant numbers of people not only like MDMA’s effects and are willing to take known risks (health and legal) to enjoy them, but they seem to prefer it to most available substitute | Estimates from darknet market studies in 2015 suggested that MDMA was the third most popular drug (after cannabis and pharmaceuticals) purchased on the darknet, accounting for 25% of drug sales. MDMA has also developed a substantial niche in online darknet markets accessed via dedicated TOR browsers and paid for using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The addiction risk ties back to its effects on neurotransmitters. MDMA, due to its psychoactive effects and potential for misuse, is a substance often tested for in various drug screening processes. When sold in pill form, two pills with the same logo or symbol may have different effects — they can come from different sources and have different ingredient |
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| These metabolites are chemicals produced as the body processes MDMA, which linger in the system, offering a window into recent drug use. For MDMA, this involves identifying traces of the drug’s metabolites. Drug tests aim to detect the presence of specific substances in the body. It typically appears on drug tests as MDMA or mdma for sale online sometimes under its street names, Ecstasy or Molly. | |
| Ecstasy adulteration is responsive to market pressures | |
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| | Some of the price disparity may be attributed to local factors, including distance to the producing centres (Netherlands and Belgium), but statistical artefacts (e.g. small sample sizes) may also be a factor. Individual factors and sex affect this dose, with women considered to be more susceptible to the 5-HT-releasing effects of MDMA (Liechti et al., 2001). Harm reduction responses, including the provision of drug-checking services and appropriate risk-communication strategies, are crucial to minimise these risks. This is consistent with law enforcement information that suggests the MDMA market in Europe is supplied by the same pool of producers, mostly based in the Netherlands and Belgium. It should be noted that this trend was observed across several countries in Europ |
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| These products may make the use of MDMA more socially acceptable and appeal to non-habitual consumers and young people. In [[https://royalmedspharma.com/global-mdma-ecstasy-market-trends-and-insights/|mdma for sale online]] recent years, the appearance of alternative (non-tablet) edible consumer products containing MDMA has also been reported, including candies, jellies, gummies and lollipops (see Box 6.1. Lollipops containing MDMA seized in Belgium). Additional data were shared with the EUDA by the Drug information and Monitoring System (DIMS) in the Netherlands. However, these data are not generalisable either, and as such should be interpreted with caution. Samples submitted to drug-checking services can also provide an indication of the products available to consumers. | |
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| Rates of adulteration of ecstasy tablets, their MDMA content and their price tend to reflect broader changes in the factors that affect the MDMA market. MDMA is most commonly found on the European market in the form of ecstasy tablets, relatively pure crystals or powders (finely ground crystals of MDMA that are typically mixed with other substances). "Party Drugs" is a term used to describe a range of illegal drugs sold as tablets ("pills") or capsules ("caps" | |
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| | While individual tablet weight cannot be a direct predictor of how much MDMA is present in each tablet, at population level this trend is consistent when comparing larger ecstasy tablets (almost always containing more MDMA) with smaller tablets (almost always containing less MDMA). buy mdma This means that the ratio of MDMA to fillers (excipients) in the mixtures used to make ecstasy tablets did not increase over this time period. In the first period, between 2011 and 2019, the increase in MDMA content is largely attributed to the sale of larger (heavier) ecstasy tablets. This means that consumers buying ecstasy tablets in Europe in 2019 would obtain a product containing up to almost double the highest amount of MDMA recorded in ecstasy tablets in 2011. In Australia, in January 2024, potent opioids of the nitazene family were found in brightly coloured tablets with logos reminiscent of ecstasy tablet |
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| Adulteration of MDMA occurs by adding other psychoactive substances, typically stimulants, to MDMA in tablet, powder or crystal form. PMK glycidate, first reported in Europe in 2013, had a particular role in this resurgence (see Section Production - designer precursors substitute scheduled MDMA starting materials). In 2009 and the following years, it was therefore unlikely that consumers who purchased ecstasy in Europe would obtain unadulterated MDMA. In 2009, on average, only 31 % of the tablets analysed contained MDMA alone, compared with almost 100 % in 2004. This includes law enforcement pressure, a variety of factors affecting MDMA production, such as the availability of MDMA precursors, and, more generally, globalisation of the illicit drug supply chain | Where prevalence is higher, it may suggest that MDMA is no longer a niche or subcultural drug limited to dance clubs and parties in those markets. According to survey data, the two largest MDMA consumer markets per capita in the European Union are the Netherlands and Ireland, with 6 % or more buy mdma people aged 15 to 34 reporting to have consumed MDMA in the last year. Some of the high-strength ecstasy tablets are scored to allow consumers to divide them into smaller portions. |
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| As so often, enforcement interventions have failed to prevent rising use, or prevent supply in the longer term, instead only serving to temporarily displace using behaviours and mutate the market in ways that increased health harm | |
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| These detections have generally been small in quantity with the powders containing a range of different substances – always ketamine and MDMA, and typically additional substances including cocaine, caffeine or cathinones. | Adaptations in the behaviours of people who use MDMA shows that they are able, willing and indeed eager to minimise their risk exposure where possible. The demand for stimulants in social environments appears to be resilient more broadly, even in the face of such market shocks. Options for future regulated online sales exist but need to account for problems such as the lack of face-to-face interaction with a vendor (and the potential loss of key tailored harm reduction which can be given in person), and meaningful enforcement of age controls. The pull factors of the darknet in the current illegal market highlight important challenges for a regulated market. This is up from 48.7% in 2015, when the percentage was also higher than for any other dru |
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| Most MDMA-related hospital emergency cases involved males, confirming trends in prevalence and patterns of use. Half of the centres reported no MDMA-related admissions to the intensive care unit. Türkiye is an outlier, with MDMA identified in almost 1 in 5 drug-induced deaths (46 out of 246 in 2022). A minority of these fatalities (13-25 %) were due to MDMA toxicity alone, with multiple drug toxicity being more prevalen | Data on prevalence of use provide an indication of the structure, location and approximate size of retail MDMA markets in the European Union. Consumers in the Netherlands will typically pay EUR 4.50 per tablet [[https://royalmedspharma.com/the-impact-of-mdma-on-mind-perform-a-scientific-analysis/|buy mdma]] but, as stated above, prices may reach as high as EUR 19 per tablet in some European countries, and more in other regions of the world. The subsequent drop in MDMA content in tablets since 2019 does not appear to have been accompanied by a significant drop in price. In 2021, adult respondents to the EWSD reported paying a median of EUR 7.20 per ecstasy tablet and a median of EUR 37.40 per gram for MDMA powde |
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| In the first period, between 2011 and 2019, the increase in MDMA content is largely attributed to the sale of larger (heavier) ecstasy tablets. The average content of MDMA in ecstasy tablets appears to be on a slight downward trend from 2019, after close to a decade of increasingly stronger (and larger) tablets becoming available on the market. On occasion, neurotoxic compounds such as PMMA (5) are detected mixed with, or as a replacement for, MDMA in ecstasy tablets. The increase in ecstasy tablets containing only MDMA from 2013 until 2019 is likely to be a reflection of this, at least in part. | Together, these two data sources suggests that the large majority of MDMA users buy the drug themselves, and that a smaller proportion obtains it for free, despite marked differences among EU countrie |
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| | This is because ecstasy tablets now contain more MDMA, on average, than they did in the past (see Section Price and purity). Information gathered in the 2021 EWSD suggests that, on average, those who reported having used MDMA in the last 12 months, consumed one ecstasy tablet or 0.4 grams of MDMA in crystal or powders form each time they used the drug. All of the 10 cities with data for both 2011 and 2023 had higher MDMA levels in 2023 than in 2011 (see Figure 6.6. Key prevalence data for MDMA/ecstasy use in Europe). Where prevalence is higher, it may suggest that MDMA is no longer a niche or subcultural drug limited to dance clubs and parties in those markets. |
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