Dancing with death: The dark facts about ecstasy

Ecstasy is one of the most popular drugs to the detriment of an estimated 9 million users worldwide—the vast majority of whom are teenagers and young adults. Its harm is so widespread that emergency room incidents have skyrocketed more than 1,200 percent since it became the “club-drug” of choice at all-night “rave” parties and dance clubs.

What is Ecstasy?

Ecstasy is an illegal and dangerous drug commonly consumed as a pill, but it can also be injected or taken in other ways. Originally, it was a harmful substance known as “MDMA.” However, since the late 1980s “Ecstasy” has become an embracive “marketing” term for Ecstasy-type drugs that may, in fact, contain very little or no MDMA at all. What is called “Ecstasy” today can contain a wide mixture of substances—from LSD, cocaine, heroin, amphetamine and methamphetamine, to rat poison and dog deworming chemicals so a user never knows what they’re taking. This factor makes Ecstasy particularly dangerous, despite the cute logos manufacturers put on the pills to hide their sinister content.

Additionally, liquid Ecstasy is actually GHB, a substance that can also be found in drain cleaner, floor stripper and degreasing solvents.

THE TRAGIC EFFECTS OF ECSTASY

Short-term damage:

Ecstasy can cause a person to go beyond their physical limitations and endurance. As a result, the user can faint or even die of heatstroke. Other harmful effects include:

• Impaired judgment and confusion
• Severe anxiety and paranoia
• Faintness and chills or swelling
• Involuntary teeth clenching
• Blurred vision

The image of Ecstasy as a “love pill” is one of many lies that are spread about the drug. Ecstasy is emotionally damaging. Users often suffer severe psychological problems from it, including depression. Furthermore, it frequently contains hallucinogens which can cause people to see or feel things that are not really there or throw a person into frightening or disturbing experiences from the past.

Many users have also died of it. One such example is a young woman who went to a rave party with friends, hoping to escape her problems and have a good time. One of these “friends” had a bottle of liquid Ecstasy, so they all decided to take some. The girl danced extensively, pushing herself well beyond her limits. The next morning she was found dead of Ecstasy poisoning.

Young people have also died of dehydration, exhaustion and heart attack as a result of Ecstasy.

Mixed with alcohol, Ecstasy is extremely dangerous and can, in fact, be deadly.

Long-term damage:

Ecstasy causes brain damage affecting thought and memory as well as portions of the brain that regulate functions such as learning, sleep and emotion. It can feel as though the brain switchboard has been torn apart, then rewired backwards. Other crippling effects include:

• Degenerated nerve branches and nerve endings
• Hemorrhaging
• Cardiovascular collapse
• Tremors, twitches or convulsions
• Death

Ecstasy can cause kidney failure, liver failure and long-lasting lesions (injuries) of brain tissue.

Even a small amount of Ecstasy can be toxic enough to poison the nervous system and cause irreparable damage.

“POPULARITY” for A HEAVY PRICE

One survey of young adults found that 55 percent started using drugs due to pressure from their friends—they wanted to be cool or popular. But trying to “fit in” with drugs can cost the ultimate price of life itself. There’s nothing cool about being a statistic.

As one woman, a former user, relates: “Luckily, I am alive, but I’m left with the days, months, and years after the trauma. I have to deal with what it’s done to me for my whole life…. I’ve been experiencing everything, you name it. Depression, anxiety, stress, [recurring] nightmares of the night, and bad headaches were a few things that affected me after I took Ecstasy. I almost died. It only took one night, a few [Ecstasy] pills, and drinking alcohol. This drug is very fatal, and I’m so thankful I’m alive. I can’t describe how hard it is coping with these nightmares all the time. I wake up in a sweat just thanking God, and being so thankful it’s just another nightmare. I pray in time the nightmares will fade away…. No drug is worth the roll or high.”—Megan

THE SOLUTION

The real answer is to get the facts and safeguard yourself and your future by not taking drugs in the first place.

Drugs tear families and lives apart. Help educate others and end their destructive grip on our society.

For more information on Ecstasy, visit https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/ecstasy.html.

Drug Free World is the largest and most comprehensive international nongovernmental drug educational and prevention program. Its videos, booklets and teaching aids and free online courses are available in 20 languages. Visit the Drug-Free World website at https://drugfreeworld.org.