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MDMA use in the North West of England

Published in: The International Journal on Drug
Policy, Vol. 4, No. 4.
(This was an early draft)

Peter McDermott
[e-mail]

Introduction

Despite indicators of increasing prevalence, it seems
surprising that there have been very few studies of MDMA use
published in the UK.  American studies appear to have drawn
their subjects from the middle classes whose use patterns
bear little resemblance to the patterns of drug use
discovered in this study. (Peroutka, Rosenbaum)

This research is aimed at those who are concerned with the
study of drug use and drug problems.  As a consequence, the
events that I have chosen to highlight in this paper are
those which appear to me to represent potentially
problematic aspects of drug use.  The reader should not
infer any of the following from this:

1. That Ecstasy is a particularly problematic drug.
2. That recreational drug use is necessarily problematic.

The incidents described are specific to the individuals and
the circumstances, and while these will undoubtedly be
replicated elsewhere, we cannot generalize from these
incidents in order to make the claim that Ecstasy is a
dangerous drug, or that these consequences will follow
Ecstasy use.  It may well be the case that the individuals
who experienced difficulties, would have experienced similar
difficulties through alcohol use or sexual promiscuity, or
any other inherently pleasurable, but risk laden activity.

Methodology.

The author found himself in the position of being able to
observe the birth of the ╘raving╒ phenomenon in Liverpool.
For a period of almost two years, some part of each weekend
was spent in the company of a group of Ecstasy users.

The primary data collection instruments were observation and
unstructured interviews.  Any exploratory study of illegal
activity conducted in this manner will have a range of
associated ethical and practical problems.  Due to these
problems, I did not seek to conduct a formal ethnography,
but offer instead a combination of what  has been described
as ╘sociological comment upon the subculture╒ and a
╘community based field study╒. (Agar, p.1 - 10)  As a
consequence, the reliability of these findings may be
questionable, but given the paucity of qualitative
information on this drug and its users, a  study of this
nature seemed worthwhile.

The role that the researcher occupied for most of this
study, was that of the covert participant observer,
following the example of Adler.  This role was necessary for
a variety of reasons.  Had I not participated, I would not
have gained access to much of the data.  Had I not been
covert about my aims, then at the least, access may have
been denied, at worst, I may have been in physical jeopardy.

Although the group was aware that the author was been
engaged in drugs work, and had a particular interest in
Ecstasy, no specific attempt to tell them during the early
part of the research about this study.  After the fieldwork
had been completed, the researcher informed members of this
group that their work would Pprovide the basis of an
article, and asked a number of group members whether they
would be prepared to be interviewed.  Due to the involvement
of many group members in highly illegal activities, it is
unsurprising that they declined.  In fact, having gotten to
know certain group members quite well, it was decided that
even asking for an interview may be prejudicial to the
researchers health.  A surprising number of group members
did agree to be interviewed, however, and the period of
prior observation proved very useful in checking responses
for consistency and coherence.   Other members have broken
contact with the group, therefore interviews were not
possible.

What is MDMA?

3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a drug of abuse
that is relatively new to the British scene.  The drug is a
member of a family of drugs, the phenethylamines, that also
include mescaline, MDA and DOM (a drug more commonly known
by it╒s street name, STP.)

Despite MDMA╒s close structural relationship with the
amphetamines and the aforementioned  hallucinogens, the
pharmacological action of the drug is such that it would be
inaccurate to typify its action as either a CNS stimulant,
or a hallucinogenic.  Because sensory disruption or loss of
contact with reality rarely occur with MDMA, it would be
wrong to classify the drug as a hallucinogenic.  Though it
shares with CNS stimulants a tendency to increase
talkativeness and elevate mood, these symptoms are not
accompanied by increases in initiative, motor activity or
ability to concentrate.Due to the lack of a therapeutic use
for this substance, it has been argued that MDMA should be
classified according to its primary effects.  According to
the literature, these are a sense of enhanced closeness and
communication. Therefore, it has been proposed that the drug
should be regarded as a member of a new class of
pharmacological agents. MDMA╒s ability to create a sense of
empathy led some commentators to seek to categorize the drug
as an ╘empathogen╒ although others prefer the term
entactogen.  (Nichols, Nichols and åberlender)

Because of these particular pharmacological properties,
there are those who claim that the drug has a valuable
therapeutic role to play in various forms of psychotherapy,
particularly in the fields of family therapy and substance
abuse.  During the late 1970╒s and early 1980╒s, the drug
gained a cult following in the USA among therapists who
valued the drug╒s ability to allow individuals to examine
difficult experiences without experiencing the associated
emotional pain.

These attempts to categorize the drugs activity as different
from established drugs of abuse may well stem from the
attempt by the drug╒s adherents to challenge the DEA╒s
attempt to reschedule the drug.  However, MDMA╒s quasi-legal
status ended in 1985, when the DEA successfully applied for
the drug to be recategorized as a Schedule 1 substance,
thereby ending the possibility of further research .

The emergence of  Ecstasy-related problems

When the drug first appeared in the U.K., little was known
about the potential risks, though a small number of
inexplicable deaths in the USA should have counselled
caution. (Dowling, G. P. et. al., 1986; Brown, C. &
Osterloh, J., 1987)

As the drug spread rapidly across the U.K., there were a
growing number of deaths and hospitalizations were
attributed to the drug.  Speculative theories for the cause
of these deaths include allergy, ideosyncratic reactions and
heatstroke, though the syndrome is, in fact, identical to
other reported incidents of phenylethylamine toxicity such
as amphetamine overdose. (Henry et. al., 1992; Ginsberg,
M.D., et. al., 1970; Simpson, D.L. & Rumack, B.H., 1981.)

Other warnings have focussed upon MDMA╒s capacity to trigger
psychotic episodes and the drug╒s potential to cause
neurological damage. (McGuire, P. & Fahey, T., 1991;
Ricaurte, G.A., et. al. 1980.)  The evidence for the latter
claims was primarily based upon research conducted with MDA,
and a single animal study, from which the authors inferred
that the drug could selectively damage the serotonin
receptor sites in primates. A recent review of methodology
of these studies has found the evidence to be seriously
flawed, so at present, no real evidence supports such
claims. (Saunders, 1993b.)

The Group.

The group was, highly dynamic, with a shifting composition
of subgroups.  Throughout the two years, many people would
join, hang out for a while, and move on. The group consisted
of around eighty members in all.  However, some of these
were transient members and there was a core group of 47
people on whom I managed to collect basic data.

These subgroups fell into four categories.  These were:

The Estate group

Although this group was a subset of a wider group, drawn
from a council housing estate outside Liverpool, this subset
introduced the drug to the professionals, and continued to
go out with the main group over the two years.

Most of the members were part of a couple, and they would go
out as couples.  The sex distribution of the group was more
or less equal.  Most also had children.  The age range of
this group varied between 17 and 33.  Typically, the men
were employed in the building trade and the women were
housewifes.

The professionals

It was through this group that I gained access to the
scene.  Members of this subgroup played an important role in
maintaining the social cohesion of the group as they would
provide a ╘centre╒, somewhere that the group would leave
from when going out, somewhere to return to after the clubs,
etc.

Members of this subgroup were older than the other groups.
The age range, if one excludes the 23 year old wife of one
member, was between 28 and 50, though most were in their
30╒s.  The modal age was 35.  The occupations of this group
were varied, but there were several businessmen, a graphic
designer, a journalist, a lecturer, a researcher, a cinema
manager, a computer animator.  Several members occupied
managerial roles, in both the private and public sectors.

This group had the sort of masculine bias that was typical
of the drug-using subculture, which is perhaps unsurprising,
because this group was made up of people who had been
introduced to the hippie and punk subcultures of the 1970╒s,
and was exploring this new drug and its associated
subculture.  Women comprised about a third of this group,
and were always part of a partnership.

The club kids

This was the largest of the subgroups, and also the most
changeable, there were approximately 30-35 members of this
subgroup, though I got to know 17 of them well enough to
begin to collect data on them.

It is this group that is most typical of those who are on
the club scene.  Almost half of this group are women, and
they were much less likely to be part of a couple than
members of the other sub-groups.

The age range of members of this group varied between 18 and
27, with the majority clustered around age 20.  Occupations
were usually non-manual, including a solicitors clerk, a
dental hygienist, a nursery nurse, several clerks. There was
one soldier.  It was in this group where unemployment was
most evident, with approximately one third being unemployed.

These unemployed had a variety of methods of finding the
money to go out.  Two of the women were shoplifters, and a
number of the men would sell drugs.  Others, however, would
go out less frequently, or would use cheaper drugs such as
LSD or amphetamine, rather than Ecstasy.

The nurses

The smallest of the subgroups, the one that bridged the
professionals and the club kids was a group of nurses.
Mainly men, there were also a number of women.  These were
less committed than the men though.  This group consisted of
six people, four of whom were men.  Their ages ranged
between 22 and 28.

Locations - the rave

The fieldwork was conducted in a range of locations -
nightclubs, private parties, warehouse parties, etc. Zinberg
has drawn our attention to the importance of setting in
defining the drug experience, and in this case it is of
paramount importance.  The rave occupies a central function
in the value system of ravers.  It acts as an organizing
principle around which the consumption of drugs can take
place.  Like many forms of recreational drug use, this
pattern of MDMA use is highly ritualistic.  Ravers may spend
Saturday afternoons preparing for that night╒s rave.  The
preparation may involve ╘getting psyched up╒ - for example,
going into the town centre, hanging around cafÄs or record
shops where they might meet other ravers, exchange notes on
what a particular venue was like, or the relative strengths
of the most recent types of tablet.  Many ravers will
attempt to organize their drug supply at this point as well,
in order to avoid the hazards associated with buying drugs
from strangers in a nightclub. Consequently, certain cafÄs,
bars and record shops became the site of police activity
during 1990.

╘Raves╒  can take place in a nightclub, a warehouse, a
private house, a beach, almost anywhere.  Formal events
attempt to structure an environment that is conducive to the
use of certain drugs.  Even the most basic club will have a
smoke machine, sophisticated lighting including lasers and
strobes, and a high quality sound system.  Bigger venues may
provide more sophisticated options, such as gyroscopes and
fairground rides, ╘brain machines╒ (machines aimed at
emulating the effects of psychedelic drugs through use of
computer controlled light and sound).  They may also provide
a variety of environments, such as a ╘chill out╒ space.
However, the primary purpose of such clubs is to create a
╘fit╒ between the drug and the environment.

Nowhere is this fit more evident than in the selection of
music.  The primary ingredient is a backbeat of 120 beats
per minute, programmed on a Roland 808 drum machine.  Once
that criteria is fulfilled, anything goes.  There is liberal
use of ╘digitally sampled╒ sounds, including other records.
These phrases may be repeated over and over again throughout
the record, or the DJ may use a particular sample as a motif
for the night. The lyrics often refer to the drug
experience.  For example

    ╥Such a good feeling, that╒s where I want to be
      Locked in a prison, of total Ecstasy╙
    Such a good feeling, Brothers in Rhythm.

The primary effect of such records is, once again, to create
a fit between the internal and external environments. The
beat mimics the accelerated heartbeat, the shimmering sounds
of the synthesizers emulate the slight aural distortion that
the drug causes, and the soaring, emotional vocals cause the
hairs to stand up on the back of your neck.

The location of this scene in Liverpool in 1989 was a club
called ╘The World╒.  The interior of the club would resemble
the last days of Rome.  A queue would form outside the club
before it opened, at 9.00 and people would stream in until
it was full and the doors were locked.  As soon as people
arrived, they would begin dancing.  By 10.00, the club would
be filled with an amorphous mass of sweaty bodies.  People
would be dancing on tables, on chairs, and on the bar.

Inside the main entrance, the club╒s ╘house dealers╒ would
accost the incoming customers.  The term ╘house dealers╒ is
appropriate because most drug dealing in nightclubs is
either sanctioned or run by the security staff.  Independent
operators, if caught, are beaten up, robbed of their drugs
and money and ejected, so only house dealers can operate
openly in this manner.  These dealers were usually ╘Berghaus
skinheads╒, identifiable by their Gore-tex mountaineer coats
and closely cropped hair. By Christmas 1989, ╘The World╒ had
been closed down on the grounds of excessive drug use and
drug dealing in the club.  Though there was no prior
announcement, on finding themselves locked out one night,
the 1000 or so patrons of ╘The World╒ just went en masse to
another club, and the whole scene just shifted.

The bigger illegal warehouse parties of 1989 - 1990 were
quite spectacular events.  Information about the meeting
place would be transmitted by word-of-mouth around the
various licensed clubs in the region.  The meeting places
were usually sizable car parks, and motorway service
stations were highly favoured for their amenities and access
to other areas.  At such locations, anywhere between 300 and
2000 cars could be waiting. Then, on the hour, the shout
would go up, ╥Convoy╒s leaving!╙ and the cars would all get
in line behind the lead car to be taken to the rave. The
convoy was to take on enormous symbolic significance for
ravers, who began to travel to legal venues ╘in convoy╒ in
order to make a statement about their identity as ravers.  A
variety of code phrases also emerged in order to reinforce
this identity. For example, ╘Blackburn rules╒ is not a
statement about the relative machismo of Blackburn youth,
but refers to a state of mind or a state of existence where,
due to their sheer volume, ravers hold absolute power.  This
power was rarely used for anything other than to continue to
dance peacefully, but it did serve to reinforce some of the
positive feelings held about membership of this group.

The illegal raves took place through most of the summer of
1990.  However, they eventually ended following
demonstrations of massive police force and tactics
reminiscent of those employed during the miners strike. So
for a period that summer, all roads that led into Warrington
would be blocked off.  Ravers approaching such road-blocks
report their cars and their persons being attacked. Police
drivers developed strategies that enabled them to ╘corral╒ a
convoy and divert it from its destination, forcing drivers
across county boundaries. Although such measures tended to
be regarded with irritation by ravers, they also conveyed
other messages to them.  If they insist upon dancing in
unauthorized places, the full coercive power of the state
would be brought to bear.

All of these factors contributed to create a new youth sub-
culture that is centred primarily on the use of MDMA.  This
subculture is no longer an underground phenomenon, but has
now crossed over into the mainstream. About half of the
records in the top ten at any given time will be derived
from this scene.

The Chill Out

Most clubs in this part of the UK closed at around 2.00 or
3.00 pm. Although the duration of MDMA is relatively short
and people would be able to sleep if they went home to bed
after the rave ended, most ravers wanted to prolong the
experience. As some ravers would also use LSD or
amphetamine, there would always be a proportion of people
seeking to congregate somewhere after the club closed.
Consequently, raves would be followed by impromptu parties
at the home of some group member. Such parties were a
typical feature of the rave scene, and even if one of the
group was unwilling to host such an event, something that
rarely happened, there would always be somebody known to the
group who was aware of such a party.

 These parties became known as ╘Chill Out╒s╒, places where
the frantic pace of the club would gradually wind down until
the participants were ready to go to bed. The space at such
events would normally be divided into two sections. One
section would play music, usually tapes of sets that had
been performed in clubs by a regarded disk jockey. In this
room, those still feeling the stimulant effects would
continue to dance. The other room would be a place where
people could ╥Chill Out╒, a quieter place were people would
talk, smoke cannabis and cigarettes, and drink tea. Alcohol
was never observed at any of these events and to suggest use
of the drug would be regarded as a breach of the rules.

These parties seem to have primarily been an urban
phenomenon. Ravers who came from small towns outside the
cities tended to travel some distance to clubs. This
travelling was followed by several hours drive home. As a
consequence, impromptu parties began to break out at
motorway service stations in the middle of the night.
Although they were invariably incident-free, these parties
were met with a certain degree of suspicion, and possibly
fear by the service station personnel, who at certain
services began to refuse entry to the cafe to the ravers.
One raver describes his rejection.

╥There were four of us. I got to the door, and a woman was
there. She said, ╥You can╒t come in and I╒m not going to
serve you.╙ When I asked her why not, she said, ╥You are
what the management refers to as ╥Acid╙, and we don╒t want
your sort in here.╙ I tried to ask her whether there had any
trouble with ravers in the past, but she just ignored me. As
we stood there, sulking, she told me if we didn╒t leave, she
was going to call the police. At other services, I╒ve seen
literally thousands, spending money, talking, doing a bit of
business, dancing in the car parks. I╒ve never seen any
trouble at all. I don╒t know whether it was prejudice or
whether they were under instructions from the police, but it
seemed they were cutting off their noses to spite their
face. They could take a lot of money for 4.00 on a Sunday
morning. Perhaps they just didn╒t want to do the extra
work?╙

Entry into the Ecstasy subculture

The group was centred around ╘The World╒.  I first visited
the club in the autumn of 1988 when it was the only
nightclub in Liverpool which played ╘Balearic╒ music. The
term ╘Balearic╒ stemmed from origins of this dance/club/drug
scene on Ibiza.  When it began is  uncertain, but it seems
to have taken off in a big way in the summer of 1977, and
was imported into the UK by a number of British disc
jockeys.

There were a number of curious features about the scene in
the club.  First, the club was packed tight on a Monday
night.  Second, the crowd began dancing from the moment the
door opened. Usually, Liverpool men are very reluctant to
dance. Third, people were not dancing with partners, instead
they appeared to be dancing for the sheer joy of dancing.

Despite my age and dress making me appear somewhat out of
place, I was offered Ecstasy on that occasion. I was
approached by a man of about 20 wearing a beatific grin,
again, not a common sight in a Liverpool nightclub prior to
that point. He was selling ╘New Yorkers╒ for ú20.00 each. He
told me that he could be found in there any night, Monday to
Saturday. Further enquiries indicated that he wasn╒t the
only dealer in the club.  There were at least another four
or five.

Having good contacts with a number of reputable drug dealers
involved with all the hitherto existing drugs, I could find
nobody who knew anything about the Ecstasy distribution
network. It seemed as though a parallel distribution network
had just sprung up. Still, for some time I gave the matter
very little thought. Following a few false starts, I could
see no way into this group.

Then, a year later in the autumn of 1989, an old colleague,
Arthur, a social worker, currently employed in a related
occupation, had gone to a stag night with some friends from
his old neighbourhood. The original group that went out on
the stag night consisted of five men, four aged between 25
and thirty, all employed in the building trade, all bar one
(the groom to be), married with children. This group forms
the nucleus of the ╘estate╒ group.  The evening differed
from other stag nights that he had attended. Instead of
going out and getting drunk, he accompanied the stag party
to ╘The World╒, where they all consumed some Ecstasy, and he
had what he described as ╘the best night of my life╒.  He
began to attend the club once or twice weekly.

Arthur was very experienced with most forms of drug use,
though his drugs of choice were alcohol and cannabis in
regular, moderate quantities. Although he had taken MDMA
once before, at home, and found it mildly enjoyable, the
drug did not have the profound effect that it had on him
that night.  Though not usually given to proselytizing for
drug use, the positive terms in which he described his
experience led other colleagues, most of whom were regular
cannabis smokers, to go with him.

A month later, the group had expanded to approximately 20
regulars.  About half were builders or their wives, the
other half were health service professionals and their
partners. The expansion of the group took off wildly when
Arthur╒s friend Adrian joined the group. Adrian was a
charismatic individual who had achieved a very high position
in his chosen career, in part due to the force of his
personality.  After discovering Ecstasy, he used his immense
capacity to motivate others, the factor that made him a
successful manager, to persuade others into Ecstasy use.

Beside MDMA, there was also widespread and open use of
╘poppers╒, butyl nitrate inhalers in the club.  These were
passed around openly and most group members used them
initially, although the novelty soon wore off as it was felt
that the unpleasant effects outweighed the good effects.
Some members of the group also began to supplement their
doses of MDMA with amphetamine, which they felt enhanced the
drug and prolonged its action, thus giving better value for
money

When the club closed at 2.00 am, few of the group wished to
go straight home to bed.  As a consequence, impromptu after-
club parties would take place.  Initially, these usually
took place at Adrian╒s house, and would often continue until
8.00 in the morning.  Because of these parties, the group
was enlarged even further.  Many  younger people that the
group met in ╘The World╒ also began to attend the parties.
As most members of this sub-group lived at home with
parents, these parties gave them a convenient location to go
once the clubs had closed, but a great many became integral
members of the group network.

Problems with the drug

Members of the group appeared to suffer from a range of
problems.  However, it is important to bear in mind that
some of the cases I describe would be unlikely to accept my
typification of these situations as problematic, nor would
they automatically agree that their problems were causally
related to their drug use.  That said, it is my belief that
these problems were related to drug use. The problems fall
into several different categories. These include drug
problems, psychiatric problems, employment problems and
family and relationship problems

Drug problems

Most of the group╒s problems fell into this category.
Although none of the group was sufficiently concerned about
their Ecstasy use to seek the help of a specialist drugs
service voluntarily, two were compelled to do so by their
parents, who were concerned about the changes in the
behaviour patterns of their adult children.  There were also
four members who needed to attend specialist drug services
following the escalation of their drug use.

Adrian had had a heroin problem in the past. After a period
in a therapeutic community he was subsequently abstinent for
many years. He had recently begun to smoke cannabis once
again, but when he first took Ecstasy, he was committed to a
concept of himself as an abstainer.  Like Arthur, Adrian
spoke in glowing terms of his first experience with the
drug. The drug had given him permission to relinquish his
rigid self-control and do things like dance for the first
time in his life.  Like the rest of the group, Adrian, along
with the rest of the group, began to adopt a new dress
style, wearing the latest club fashions, and began buying
club records.  However, the most marked change in his
lifestyle concerned the amplification of his drug use.

Adrian continued to become increasingly involved in drug
use. The initial one tablet a night became two, then three.
He began to use heroin in combination with Ecstasy after the
clubs shut. Initially, he concealed this fact from members
of the group and sought to deny it when confronted. His
partner, who had only previously used cannabis, also began
to use heroin.  Initially, they smoked the drug, but as an
ex-injector, he rapidly adopted the more efficient route of
administration.  Adrian eventually sought assistance in the
form of a maintenance prescription from the local CDT. It is
believed that he shares this with his partner, Dorothy.

David had known Adrian for some 20 years. They had both been
addicted to opiates at the same time during the early 70╒s.
Both had entered rehabs, and both had cleaned up. David also
resumed his heroin use during this period. Although he did
not seek help for his addiction, he has been hospitalized
for an ulcer on his foot, caused by thrombosis.  He
continues to use opiates, but denies that he has a problem.

Paul and Arnold were also ex-addicts in their 30╒s, although
unlike Adrian and David, both had been abstinent for less
than a year.  Both resumed opiates in the context of a
weekend of Ecstasy use.  Both are presently receiving
prescriptions for opiates from a DDU.  Both accept that
Ecstasy was a catalyst, if not a cause of their relapse.

Three members of the ╘club kids╒ group were also initiated
into opiate use during this period, although this appears to
have remained at the stage of experimentation at present.
None of this opiate use occurred in the context of the main
group.  Here, opiate use and injecting is taboo, although
occasional cocaine use is not.  Instead, it seems to occur
in marginal subgroups that splintered off from the main
group in order to pursue these deviant activities.

Crime

Although most of the group were employed, a number of the
╘club kids╒ had been employed for a long time.  A number of
these would engage in criminal activity in order to fund
their weekend.  Two of the women, Brenda, aged 26 and Doreen
aged 24, were shoplifters, with past convictions.  Three
men, Norman aged 23, Don, also 23 and Podger, 19 would
regularly engage in a variety of criminal acts, including
cheque fraud, theft from cars, breaking and entering, etc.

The most common criminal activity that members of the group
engaged in however, was drug dealing.  Prior to their
discovery of Ecstasy, some members of the professional sub-
group had organized themselves into a cannabis purchasing
syndicate.  The idea was, that every month or so, they would
pool a certain amount of money and buy cannabis in order to
take advantage of wholesale prices and to minimize their
contact with the black market. Adrian began to organize a
similar syndicate for the purchase of Ecstasy. However, the
management of this  syndicate soon became more than
something that was organized as a cooperative purchasing
venture. Adrian rapidly began to take high doses of the
drug, typically, three or four tablets over the course of a
night. He began to regard the syndicate as a method of
financing his ecstasy use, and that of his wife,
consequently, the syndicate became organized along more
typical drug dealing lines, with Adrian playing a major role
as supplier.

This role was to bring about a split in the ranks of the
professionals that was never healed. Between January 1990
and May 1990, reliable Ecstasy became difficult to find.
Although tablets were purchased most weekends, they would
invariably turn out to be amphetamine, a mixture of
amphetamine and LSD, Ketamine, or no discernible drug at
all. At the end of this period, the syndicate made contact
with a person from the USA with access to wholesale
supplies. The bulk of the risk of distribution was being
handled by David, but Adrian succeeded in inserting himself
between David and the supplier, and was taking an equal
share of the profit. At some point, Adrian became aware that
their small operation was under police surveillance. As he
rarely handled the tablets, he felt that he was at little or
no risk. However, he failed to share the information that he
had with his partner. When David was informed about what
Adrian has heard, he was reminded of two previous occasions
when he alone had been convicted of offences that Adrian had
initiated, while Adrian had avoided prosecution. His anger
was so great, that David broke off relations with Adrian,
despite a relationship of almost 20 years, and he has not
spoken to him since.

This incident was one of several schisms caused by Adrian╒s
behaviour. Adrian asked another member of the group if he
would be prepared to smuggle 20,000 ecstasy tablets into
this country from the United States. Initially, Peter
thought it was a joke. When he realized that Adrian was
serious, he first tried to talk to Adrian about his
increasingly rash behaviour. However, Adrian appeared to be
suffering from delusions of invulnerability. On reflection,
Peter came to two conclusions about the incident. First,
that Adrian╒s behaviour was so potentially destructive that
a continued association would be liable to end in disaster.
Second, that Adrian was prepared to use anybody to pursue
his goal of controlling large amounts of drugs and making
large amounts of money. Peter also made a decision to break
off relations with Adrian.

Although some members of the group would move between the
two camps for a short period, eventually they separated
completely, as the not-Adrian faction made it clear that
they did not wish to associate with people who associated
with Adrian.

Employment problems

Although use of Ecstasy was invariably limited to the
weekend, use of the drug caused a variety of psychiatric
problems for some members of the group.

When The Professionals discovered the drug, it produced a
marked change in their personal style that was apparent to
the most casual observer. Their clothing, the music that
they listened to, their attitude and their behaviour changed
radically. While this might have been less worthy of comment
in younger adults, it was to become the cause of a great
deal of comment and speculation. Some members of this group
had also been highly indiscreet about their drug use with
large numbers of colleagues, both from their own
organization, and with colleagues from other organizations.
These indiscretions were to begin a series of events that
led to the resignation or dismissal of a number of members.

During his rapid rise to a position of some power, Adrian
had made a large number of enemies. In January 1990, an
incident occurred that led to an allegation that Adrian and
several of his staff were using drugs. His employers
instituted an enquiry which was inconclusive - however, the
enquiry was followed by a degree of reorganization that
stripped Adrian and other members of his team of most of
their operational autonomy and status. For the first time,
they came under the intense scrutiny of higher management.
This was eventually to lead to the resignation of Adrian and
Robert, another colleague occupying a managerial position
who owed his appointment to Adrian. Other members of the
group failed to have their contracts renewed.

Other members of the group had problems with work that
appear to be directly attributable to the drug. One of the
club kids, Neil, resigned his job as a storekeeper, in order
to devote a greater part of his time to the subculture.
Another, Damon, lost his job as a junior solicitors clerk.
This occurred because he was suspected of selling drugs in a
local nightclub, Quadrant Park. One night, the club╒s door
staff called Damon into the office. There he was searched,
and they found around twenty tablets. The club╒s owner was a
client of Damon╒s firm of solicitors. Although no police
were involved, the owner of the club informed the firm╒s
senior partner, who dismissed Damon immediately.

Psychiatric problems

Peter and Ellen, two of the professionals were also to
suffer problems associated with their work that arose as a
consequence of minor psychiatric problems. Ellen was
suspended from work and referred to a psychiatrist for
assessment. Her symptoms consisted primarily of intense
paranoia.

Anthony was a senior sub-editor in his mid thirties,
employed on a regional daily newspaper. He was introduced to
Ecstasy by one of the group in an attempt to avoid relapsing
into heroin use. His ecstasy use became increasingly
chaotic, and was usually supplemented by LSD. He, in turn,
introduced a number of colleagues to the drug. He managed to
avoid relapse for a little longer, but eventually fell back
into heroin use that may have been exacerbated by his
consumption of Ecstasy. During this period, he was
frequently absent from work, and when he was present, his
conversation was often strange or inappropriate, and his
behaviour chaotic, often bordering on psychotic.

Peter believes that he suffered from a condition that he has
identified in the literature, a condition termed ╥Delayed
anxiety syndrome╙. This episode occurred after he had
abstained from taking the drug for a period of several
weeks. He experienced severe panic attacks with no apparent
source, and agoraphobia. Although the most severe symptoms
of his condition only lasted a few days, he feels that he
suffered from more diffuse symptoms of anxiety for about
nine months after. These symptoms only began to subside
after he resumed the use of opiates, after being abstinent
for about a year. Peter, Anthony and Ellen can all point to
other factors that may have contributed to their psychiatric
instability, including a miscarriage in Ellen╒s case, and
the break up of a relationship in the cases of Anthony and
Peter, but it seems likely that the drug exacerbated their
conditions.

The most severe psychiatric problem that was suffered by any
of the group members was that of Geoff, a twenty-eight year
old member of the estate group. Geoff was employed as a
gardener, recently married with a young child. His wife did
not use any drugs. Until his exposure to Ecstasy, the only
illicit drug that Geoff ever used was cannabis.

Although he had taken Ecstasy on a number of occasions, he
had taken a combination of LSD and amphetamine on the
evening that his psychotic episode was triggered. The
incident occurred in a club in Manchester. Later that
evening, Geoff anounced he had had a revelation ╤ God had
appeared to him on the dancefloor and given him a message.
It was his destiny to dance around the world, raising money,
but more importantly, spreading the word that we must do
something about famine in Africa.

I spoke to Geoff prior to his hospitalization. He seemed
unable to stop dancing, was unable to sleep, and his
thoughts were extremely disordered. He appeared to be in the
grip of a severe psychotic episode. His family were
persuaded to seek psychiatric help and shortly after he was
admitted to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital where
he was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression and was
stabilized with lithium. He has suffered one or two minor
recurrences, one requiring further hospitalization, but the
lithium appears to have been fairly effective.

Relationship problems

These problems may well be the most difficult to attribute
decisively to Ecstasy use, but there have been a range of
problems in the group that it is possible to attribute to
use  of the drug.

Several members of the various groups suffered problems in
their relationships over their use of the drug. In some
cases, these problems stemmed from concern by parents that
drugs were being used. For two men, this friction led to
involuntary attendance at drugs services in order to appease
their parents.

In other cases, parents or partners were distressed by the
behaviour of the ecstasy user. As mentioned above,
initiation into ecstasy use was invariably accompanied by
extreme changes in behaviour patterns, that included
dropping old, non-ecstasy using friends, cessation of
alcohol use, being out for long periods of time, financial
difficulties. For many of the younger group members, such
behaviour may be viewed as a typical adolescent rite of
passage, but whatever the cause, it often resulted in a
great deal of friction.

For several group members, discovery of Ecstasy led to the
break-up of long-standing relationships. This was usually
attributed to either or both of two factors. First, the
lifestyle of the ecstasy user changed to an extent that was
incompatible with their past lifestyle and the lifestyle of
their partner. Second, the drug allowed the user to step
back and reevaluate their life and their priorities. It was
often this latter process that made change inevitable.

One member of the estate group, aged 28 had been married for
ten years and had three children, all under six. His ecstasy
use introduced a level of strain into his relationship that
proved to be irresolvable. Other couples who took the drug
together found that it actually enhanced their
relationships. Arnold and Ellen talk about that stag
night.when he first took the drug.

╥When I came in, it was about 3.00. I got into bed and
Ellen was lying their awake.╙
╥I was furious. Where the fuck have you been till this
hour? He had a big sheepish grin on his face. So he
says, ╘I╒ve been out for Geoff╒s stag night, we went
to The World. I╒ve had a wonderful time.╒ So I say,
╘What the hell were you doing till this time?╙
╥And I said, ╘oh, just dancing.╒ Then she kicked off.
Ellen is really jealous. ╘Dancing! Dancing! Who were
you dancing with?╙ ╥Oh, just the lads!╙╙
╥By this time, I╒m furious. He╒s gone out on a stag
night with a gang of Scouse builders and he tells me
he spent the night dancing with them. Give me some
credit. So I say, ╥How much have you had to drink?╙
and he says, ╥Nothing.╙ All the time I╒m getting
angrier and angrier. He must think I╒m a fool. Then he
says, ╥I had this tablet, I had the best night I╒ve
ever had in my life, and I╒m going back for some more
tonight.╙

Arnold and Ellen believe that the drug has brought them
closer together. But for others, the drug can prevent them
examining their relationship more carefully. Damon was 18
when he began taking the drug. He had long suspected that he
was homosexual, but he wanted to avoid admitting it. He used
Ecstasy relentlessly to avoid confronting his sexuality,
running up debts of several thousand pounds with the bank,
and several hundred pounds with a local drug dealer. When he
was unable to pay the dealer, his parents bailed him out to
avoid physical retribution, then they sent him to London to
stay with his brother.

While he was there, Karen came down and moved in with him.

╥I knew I was gay. Karen just needed somebody and I
was non-threatening. Because of the Ecstasy, we were
able to avoid confronting the issue for over a
year.When things came to a head, it was much worse,
because she had invested so much in me.╙

Cessation of use

Three years after the first members of the group were
initiated into ecstasy use, a pattern of use appears to have
emerged. As with many other drugs, Ecstasy use appears to
follow a career or a natural history.

The first use of the drug appears to produce an extreme
sense of euphoria that lasts far longer than the actual
effects of the drug.. It is not uncommon for users to
report, ╥That was the best time I╒ve ever had in my life.╙
Many new initiates thank the person who introduced them to
the drug for the experience. This so-called ╘honeymoon
period╒ is usually followed by a period of heavy, regular
use. For the first twelve months or so after discovering the
drug, the vast majority of users in the group went out at
least once a week, many went out three or four nights a
week. They would take at least one tablet, but over the
course of a long night, they might take as many as five or
six, with quantities as high as twelve tablets reported in
one session.The centrality that set and setting play in
determining the effect of a particular drug is confirmed by
the role that changes in the club scene occupy in the
reasons for changes in the pattern of use. Few members of
the group would claim to have ╘given up╒ taking ecstasy.
Those who have, have transferred their allegiance to other
drugs of choice. For the majority though, they claim that
they no longer take the drug as often because ╘the scene
isn╒t like it used to be╒.  As the drug and it╒s associated
subculture grew at the end of the eighties, it lost its
exclusivity. Increasingly younger people could be found in
the clubs, along with large numbers of criminal predators
who viewed the large crowds of young people high on ecstasy
as ╘easy pickings╒. As the atmosphere in the Liverpool clubs
soured, the group first looked further afield to clubs in
small towns in Lancashire, then Wales, as they sought places
where the ╘honeymoon atmosphere╒ still governed in the
clubs. As time passed though, members of the group began to
recognize that they were chasing a dream that they could not
recapture. Most will still take ecstasy on a special
occasion, or on the occasional night out, but it is usually
a rare event.

Conclusion

The events that I have chosen to highlight in this paper are
those which appear to me to represent the problematic or
potentially problematic aspects of Ecstasy use.  However, I
do not believe that the reader should infer either that
Ecstasy is a particularly problematic drug or that
recreational drug use is necessarily a problematic activity.

The incidents described are specific to the individuals and
the circumstances, and while these will undoubtedly be
replicated elsewhere, we cannot generalize from these
incidents in order to make the claim that Ecstasy is a
dangerous drug, or that these consequences will follow from
Ecstasy use. Indeed, it may well be the case that the
individuals who experienced difficulties, would have
experienced similar difficulties through alcohol use, sexual
promiscuity, or any other inherently pleasurable, but risk-
laden activity.

However, the research highlights a number of important
issues that may not have received adequate attention in the
past. The role that illicit drug use has played in all youth
sub-cultures has probably been underestimated. The homology
or ╘fit╒ between ecstasy and the rave scene is one that is
mirrored by amphetamine and punk, LSD and cannabis and the
hippies, ╘pep pills╒ and mods, etc.  The role that drug use
and subcultural values have played in defining the
identities of several generations of British youth have been
inadequately explored, but these problems may well become
exacerbated when ethnicity and gender are other factors in
the equation.

These successive waves of youth subculture have resulted in
a situation whereby in large parts of Britain today, illicit
drug use is no longer a deviant activity but the norm, a
reflection of changes in social mores. If our attempts to
control illicit drug use by legislation have any value it is
that the introduction of any new drug always has some
catastrophic effects while a culture develops its own
informal rules and sanctions to control the use of that
drug.

The emergence of this particular cultural conjunction at
this particular point in time raises an enormous number of
issues that warrant further exploration. At the expense of
sounding like a hackneyed Marxist, the eighties was a period
of closure, a post-religious, post-industrial, post-
political, post-ideological, post-modern era. The old ties
to class, job, family and community have been rent asunder
and new forms of social cohesion have yet to take their
place. It could well be that the ecstasy experience gave
some insight into the possibility of a form of community
that no longer exists. Similarities between the rave
experience and other religious or tribal rites are very
strong. The DJ occupies the role of the shamen, MDMA is used
as a sacrement, the music, dancing and lights produce a
profound effect upon the consciousness of the collective
that is perceived as a highly significant impact upon their
lives.

Looked at in this way, it is not the drug that is the cause
of the problems that arose in this context, but the intense
experience derived from the sense of becoming part of a
larger community, in a world in which people lack certain
fixed and absolute values, or any sense of belonging or
investment in the wider social order.

Over the past thirty years or so, successive waves of youth
subcultures have embraced the use of various illicit mind-
altering drugs. This has resulted in a situation whereby for
many people under the age of forty in Britain today, illicit
drug use is no longer a deviant activity but the norm.

For many of the people observed in this case study, Ecstasy
acted as a ╘gateway drug╒, a low threshold initiation into
drug use that led rapidly to experimentation or regular use
of other drugs.  However, the old conceptual tools that
address this issue in terms of individual pathology are of
little use in explaining this phenomenon. The widespread use
of Ecstasy, which has subsequently been followed by the use
a wider range of illicit drugs is a manifestation of social
and cultural change.  The task before us must be to
ameliorate the consequences of that change, through
education and drug information campaigns, until a new set of
informal rules and sanctions eventually emerge that are
better suited to regulating the new technologies of
pleasure.

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