Pills and Thrills - The rise of 'E'

Ecstasy is the nickname for the psychoactive drug MDMA, the drug has been popular amongst ravers and music enthusiasts for decades. Pressed into colourful pills imprinted into logos, such as Rolex, Mitsubishi, Playboy and the well know - Doves.

Ecstasy reached our dance floors as a popular recreational aid in the 1980’s and was closely associated with the dance and rave scene. The drug was at its height in popularity in the 1990’s and the early 2000’s and decreased for about a decade while clubbers found other recreational raving aids. More recently its use has increased in the UK and US during 2014,  pressed into colourful shapes that would look more in place in a kids sweet shop than that of a popular party drug.

Unlike an alcoholic fuelled night out at your local bar - Users on ecstasy tend to feel highly sensual, which leads to many users to touch hug and kiss other people, different to the bar scene, brawls and fist fights are rare as users feel more of a love and a connection to other people, even giving and enemy a hug.

Ecstasy has moved on a lot in recent years and is now used in the hip hop scene (once well known for crystal and other champagne brands) and now highly used in the festival scene and sadly ecstasy related deaths in recent years have also risen too. Ecstasy now no longer just means it contains MDMA, over the years, lots of different ecstasy tablets have been cut with other drugs such as ketamine, dxm, methamphetamine and drugs like mephedrone have been popping up more regularly in pills, that have been seen passed around our dance floors and this has unfortunatley led to death..

Despite legal controls on the increase, ecstasy will not go away and with users on the rise its time to rave safe and educate.