Ecstasy use drops as impurity increases

[tripsis]

Ecstasy use drops as impurity increases

A new report has revealed the use of ecstasy is becoming less popular among Australian drug users.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales has found the number of surveyed users nominating ecstasy as their drug of choice last year dropped by 5 per cent since 2009, while weekly use of the drug has almost halved.

The centre's director, Professor Michael Farrell, says this may have to do with the fact 56 per cent of users reported a significant drop in the purity of ecstasy.

That is up from 9 per cent of users who reported the same thing in 2009.

"People stop using when [the drugs] don't deliver the effects that they want from them and they'll spend their money on something else," Professor Farrell said.

"That's particularly if they're regular users, they'll know what to expect and if they're not getting that effect."

Ecstasy use has dropped in Australia, the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has found. (Getty Images)

Professor Farrell says the findings are consistent with global trends.

"It seems as if some of the fallen purity has been to do with the introduction of some of the precursors, which has made it more difficult for people to make pure ecstasy," he said.

"That seems to be an international phenomenon."

But researchers are concerned synthetic drugs may start becoming more popular, with 16 per cent of users reporting the use of drugs such as mephedrone, which is a synthetic stimulant.

Professor Farrell says although the use of synthetic drugs is small, their popularity needs to be monitored.

"What we have seen internationally is we've seen more use of other drugs like in the UK and in Ireland," he said.

"We've seen some of the use of these internet drugs like mephedrone and other types of stimulants."

Source.

[dreamscape]

People are always going to use drugs. Ecstasy has dropped in purity so less people use it is it any wonder that there has been a massive rise in meth lab busts in the last couple of years I remember reading that small scale meth lab busts have risen by more than double from 2005-2010 in a report recently. Its crazy to think some people believe that current drug laws are effective. People that are searching for that next high will find it even if its something like methadrone or Meow Meow as its called. Research chems and speed are the main ingredient in any pills and that report is right an experienced user would knowingly put that puss into their body... If you need to take more than one it just aint Pinging (some might say) It is truly scary what people will put in their bodies to get high even with no knowledge of what it is. Would be good to hear some of our pollies taking the info out there and looking at it with open eyes rather than fear.

[Psylo]

It must be "Ecstasy Month" for the media.

An important consideration that is overlooked when bullshit media releases like this are made is that generations have passed with users. Some of the first big takers of E have long left it behind and have young families of their own. In a few years their kids will be hitting the next popular culture drug.

a 2010 paper from WA that someone recently posted suggests that the average age of your E user is around 23 years old, and on average was first taken at the age of 18. How the fuck does he or she know what the purity was like 10 to 15 years ago in order to make a valued comparison ? The only trends are that of a generation shift. The media, or some pathetic academia institution's phd wanna-be could make any number of claims as to why any drug's popularity goes through ebbs and tides, and eventually fizzles out, but really it's simply about the old heads retiring from the party and the new bucks stepping up to the plate. The music changes, the fashion changes and the drugs change.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

oh i have no doubt the music changes to suit the drugs in the scene, however it is definitely true that use of mdm@ has dropped significantly due to the lack of quality in the mainstream. It is still around and in very high quality, however it is only in small qty and never seems to make it far outside of the circle of people in the know.

Unfortunately this definitely has increased the use of meth. What dreamscape says is correct. Honestly this really sucks!! so many of the older ravers are leaving the scene as the methed up lads just are taking over, with their violence and arrogance no one wants to party around them, and i am a firm believer that this is all due to their use of meth. You dont see many people gurning and huggin at raves these days, just gabbering and fighting.

The australian goventment spent big money to stop the harvest of safrole in Asian and it worked, im a firm beliver that this is the cause of the world wide drought. This also made people look for any kind of alternative that works, unfortunatly meth is too easy to make. With ephedriine and pseudo a pretty common thing in plants they will never stop it. They should feel really proud they turned all the loved up ravers into a world wide fkn meth problem!

[Distracted]

"People stop using when [the drugs] don't deliver the effects that they want from them and they'll spend their money on something else," Professor Farrell said.

 

The best accidental arguement against drug laws. People don't stop taking drugs when their drug of choice becomes unavailable, they just use other drugs.

This is serious not news though. Similar to an article I read last year that stated that they can now prove that alchol lowers inhibitions... wow. I'm glad they can prove that now as I was only going on unreliable anecdotal evidence :/

I guess we do need studies though so we can refer to them whilst passing laws.

[Mycot]

To some extent it may not be so much that quality is dropping that accounts for the drop in use but that with repeated use the effects of initial use become increasingly harder to replicate. This would lead many to beleive that quality is dropping.

Meth replacing MDMA use has been occuring for quite some time and is no great surprise. It's usually much cheaper than MDMA and lasts a good deal longer. Plus there are too many that are drawn to meth use.

While there are still major concerns about MDMA toxicitcy I feel that the drop in its use is a good thing although the increase in meth use and that of little understood synthetics is not good either.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Mycot

[Hendry]

buddy figures late 90's-ish mda were good times .... I guess nowdays most people don't know any better. I hope this changes. Much better scene than anything else. A sad state of affairs.