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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
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
These products may make the use of MDMA more socially acceptable and appeal to non-habitual consumers and young people. In 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. Reporting countries 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”
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
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
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.
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
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.
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