I wouldn't recommend it mate - I used it for a few years when I was in my party phase, and it's not exactly healthy for you, no matter what anyone says. You do build a psychological dependency on it, even if physically you won't go through major withdrawal like if you did speed, coke or even pot, you won't want to go out unless you're off your face on pills. The minute you go clubbing you'll be looking for it - you won't be able to have a good time without it. There's psych withdrawal rather than physical. Plus it does have side effects, like killing off a lot of your serotonin reuptake inhibitors and making your hands shake. Not to mention it's expensive. Not to mention you go through Terrible Tuesday (where you can't sleep till Tuesday if you take it on the weekend). And these days you probably don't know if you're taking e or if you're taking amphetamine. Too much whizz and you can turn into a nervous wreck.
What people here have said is true - pure MDMA has clinical applications when used in a controlled environment. You've got buckleys of finding pure MDMA these days. Most e these days will have about 30% speed (to give the energy), 20% acid (to give you the trippy feeling) and about 50% glucose/another binding agent/washing powder. I'm not sure what kind of e you did in Holland Johnny, but alcs and e don't mix, mainly because one is a stimulant and the other a depressant. It's not chemically harmful (unless the two mix and create a cocktail of something your body could be allergic to - it can happen) but there's the risk you end up drinking 20 bottles of Smirnoff Ice in a few hours because your body is making you think you can. Then when your e wears off all that alcohol hits you. Best to stick to water or Gatorade.
My personal view is that you shouldn't try it, but people are people, and people are curious. If you do decide to try it, then for Gods sake be informed about what you do, and make sure you know what you're doing and what you're ingesting. Drink lots of water, but not too much that you make your brain swell, and make sure there's someone looking out for the group of you.
I did this stuff every weekend for four years. I look back on those days now and think about all the money I wasted, all the Sunday mornings, all the Mondays I spent recovering, it's not worth it. As Johnny said, getting high can be great when you do it the first time, but it gets passe very quickly, and as your tolerance grows you will never EVER get that initial high that you got in the first few weeks of use. You can chase it forever and you won't get it back.
I would also be careful about glorifying drug use on this thread, or making it seem "cool". It's no cooler than smoking or drinking is. Curiosity is fine and normal, and I'd rather you ask questions now rather than later, when you're into it - but let's be careful how we talk about it - just a precaution. [img]smile.gif[/img]
If you would like insights from a previous discussion about this a couple of years ago, it is
here. I suggest you read and educate yourself. I'll repost what I posted then (cut and paste):
Quote:
Memnoch posted in July 2002:
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Let me share something with you guys as a fellow member (NOT as a mod). As late as 5 years ago I had tried pretty much everything under the sun, with the exception of smack (heroin). I have tried e's, trips, shrooms, pot, special K, all part of the clubbing phase I went through while at university and just after. I used to take three to four e's a week on average for two years. It was cool as hell at the time, and I see some of you on this thread (caleb is one) who seem to think that is is REALLY cool to punch cones, pop e's or get smacked out all day - maybe the media, the clubs, the beautiful people all perpetuate that image.
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What you probably don't realize is that all you're seeing is the superficial side of things. If you are not educated about what you are doing, and don't know what things like ketamine or MDMA or ice or THC do to your body, the honeymoon will end after two or three years, depending on your level of usage. It will slowly and gradually stop being as fun as you thought it was, and you will continue to chase that high that you KNOW you can get if only you could get better quality e's or charlie or whizz or whatever. Guess what - you will NEVER get that high again and you can gradually destroy both your body and your mind trying to chase it.
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I've probably done about 500 e's in my life - what they are selling to you as MDMA is probably a mix of glucose, novocaine, some acid to make you hallucinate and some speed to keep you going on the dancefloor - maybe if you're lucky it might have .5mg of MDMA. That's 5000mgs of chemicals that I've ingested, that I don't even know the effects once they start interacting with my body.
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The experiences start out good but I guarantee it, the more you do, the longer you do it, the worse your experiences will be. This can lead to anxiety attacks, panic attacks and other forms of psychological issues (paranoia, depression, etc).
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The way e works (explaining in layman's terms) is that in maximizes the amount of serotonin in your brain, which controls mood. This is why the huge high and the massive low afterwards. If you are a regular user your brain will eventually compensate for the increased serotonin in your brain by producing less. If you stop or reduce your intake you have less serotonin there that your brain is used to - this is why a lot of people go through depression after taking a break from the scene. Sometimes your brain is never able to produce the same level of serotonin that it was able to before you started to do it.
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Even if you avoid physically addictive drugs like smack or coke, you will STRUGGLE to get over the psychological need to recreationally use these stimulants for a very long time. I was lucky - I got over it within two years. Some people never do.
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I have seen friends of mine who were the most happy, positive people five or so years ago - after five years of punching morning, lunch and evening cones now they seem like shells of their former selves. Depressed, down, disillusioned with life, after that high how can anything else compare? Going out straight seems like torture after being out on e all night. The psychological adjustment you go through is very very difficult. Some people stop going out altogether.
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Some friends of mine have ended up in mental health wards, in emergency rooms, in police cells. I will never forget the time I had some friends over after a night out and in the morning as we were walking out of the club one of them started vomiting and collapsed - not after taking twenty pills in one night (which friends of mine have done) but after taking half a pill. We had to call an ambulance to take her to the ER - waiting there while medical officers tried to resuscitate her, all I could think about was how would I explain this to her mother if something happened. You never think of these things happening when you first pop, funnily enough, and they never happen in the first couple of years of use - it's always later on.
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I'm not saying this to scare you, I'm not saying this to brag - you guys should all know me well enough by now. I'm saying this because I don't want people to go through the experience that I went through in getting myself out of that scene - admitting I was in the scene was difficult enough in itself. I count myself as one of the lucky ones - I was able to drag myself out of that weekly clubbing routine and put everything in perspective - going out, working, having fun, socializing, the whole thing.
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Whether or not you choose to engage in recreational drug use is your call - nobody can make that decision for you. All I can do is tell you what my experience was in the hopes that someone can learn from it - if someone does then spending half an hour to type it our was worthwhile. But educate yourself, and for God's sake do things in moderation and learn from others - because the checks you write out for your body now will definitely be cashed in later on in life.
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EDIT: Oh, and male, 31. [img]smile.gif[/img]
[ 12-13-2004, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]