[Contents]
[Chapter 4][Chapter
6]
No-one knows just how many people take Ecstasy, but there are
some clues. In 1993, British customs seized 554 kg, double the
previous year's haul.(20)
That year E was in more plentiful supply than the year before, so
the proportion seized was probably less than usual. At 90 mg
each, 554 kg is enough for somewhat over 6 million doses. In
spite of claims by customs that they intercept 10%, the true
figure may be nearer 1%(195),
implying that several hundreds of millions of doses were
imported, quite apart from domestic production. This is no hard
evidence, but does suggest that there are several million British
users. Seizures have increased each year.(179) Another indication
is the growth in rave attendances to over a million per week and
the ever-widespread use of Ecstasy in clubs.(159, 146, 175)
The only British national survey on usage was conducted by Harris
Opinion Polls for the BBC Reportage programme in January 1992.
Interviewers asked questions about drug use to people on their
way into clubs in the 11 largest cities in Britain. The answers
of 693 people aged between 16 and 25 covering all social groups
who were 'regular club goers' - i.e. said they attended at least
once a month - were analysed. Overall 31% said they had taken
Ecstasy regardless of social group. 33% said they had taken an
illegal drug, but 67% said that their friends had done so.(23)
Andrew Thomson, a sociologist doing research among this age group
(Appendix 5) believes that those who
told the Harris interviewers that they did not take drugs but
that their friends did so were probably lying (because the
questions were asked in public), and that they actually took
drugs themselves. This would explain the discrepancy with his own
impression, and that of other observers, that the majority of
this group use Ecstasy. The total number of 16-25 year-olds in
Britain is 7,444,300.(47)
Statistics to show how many of these are regular club goers are
not available, but Andrew Thomson believes that the figure is
about 90% among those he is studying. If that were the case, and
80% of the age group live within reach of cities, then the
national figure would be 3.5 million, or 1.7 million if only
those who openly admitted taking Ecstasy are included. Recently,
it has been suggested that there are just as many users living in
the country as in inner cities.(145)
A survey of school children across the whole of England found
that 4.25% of 14 year-olds had tried Ecstasy.(48) This comes to 24,000.
Another (regional) survey found that 6% of 14-15 year-olds have
taken Ecstasy.(49) If
applied nationally, that would come to 70,000.
Further statistics depend on guesswork. Ian Wardle of Lifeline, a
Manchester organisation concerned with young people who use
illicit drugs(40),
estimated in 1992 that a million Es were consumed every week in
Britain. Other estimates are lower, for instance the number of
people who have tried Ecstasy at raves has been put at 750,000.(33) There are a
considerable number of users outside the 16-25 age group who
attend clubs, so the total number of people who have tried
Ecstasy in Britain probably lies between one and five million.
The fact that six million doses were seized without causing a
shortage suggests the actual figure is at the higher end.
In contrast, the number of American users is small. A survey of a
similar age group in 1991 found that only 0.2%, or one in 500,
had used Ecstasy in the previous 30 days; while 0.9% had used E
in the previous year.(22)
These figures imply that Ecstasy use was far less among young
people in America than Britain that year, though that was before
rave culture started in the States. Though there was a shortage
of E in California in 1993, by 1994 it was plentiful again.(165)
As for frequency of use, a study of 89 Ecstasy users in London
found that 46 had used the drug more than 20 times; 23 more than
40 times and 5 more than 100. About one third used it at least
once a week, while a minority 'binged' on 10-20 over a weekend.
Many took other drugs along with MDMA.(45, 182)
MDMA is used by a wider variety of people than other illicit
drugs, and has been credited with bringing together types of
people who would not mix previously. Besides ravers, users
include Hollywood stars(139),
New Agers(154), gays(175) and
psychotherapists. All over Europe and north America Ecstasy is
found in city dance clubs, and in Britain it has spread out to
people living in the country(145).
Young people are the most receptive to E. Among British
schoolchildren, Ecstasy is the drug most frequently encountered
apart from cannabis, with girls trying it earlier than boys.(181, 182, 201) But Ecstasy has
spread to some surprising quarters. Peter McDermott, editor of
The International Journal on Drug Policy, describes how it hit a
group in Liverpool: "I went down to the local pub, and some
of the regular four-pints-a-night drinkers were there - drinking
orange juice and giggling: they had discovered Ecstasy."
Another older group of users are those who used to take LSD in
the sixties and perhaps still smoke cannabis. An account is given
below of how Ecstasy was picked up by such people in a particular
rural community, but a similar trend has occurred all over the
country. There are even some raves organised by and for this age
group, although the majority at those I attended were in their
twenties.
Arno Adelaars, a Dutchman who has written a book about Ecstasy(17), says that extroverts
and introverts use the drug differently. The extroverts use it
for entertainment, to open up and relate to strangers at parties,
while the introverts take it at home with a lover or a few close
friends to provide intellectual insights. Arno, who is familiar
with the English club scene, says that there is also a difference
between the way E is taken in Holland and in England. In Holland
no-one likes to lose control, especially in public, but in
England people like to show that they are 'out of it'.
When raving was new to Britain, ravers described it as one big
happy family and would feel at home at any event where people
were using E. But over the years, and particularly from 1993, the
scene has divided up into distinct subgroups - each with their
own style of music and clothes, their own music and drugs of
choice. At one extreme are some younger Northerners who wave
white gloved hands and blow whistles, while at the other are the
upwardly mobile professionals who have absorbed Ecstasy and
rave-type parties into their lifestyle, dressing much as they
would for an office party and starting the evening with a few
drinks.(146)
In 1993, alcohol made a comeback in Britain(174) and other drugs such
as poppers were more popular in some circles, probably due to
worsening reputation of drugs sold as E.(172) But by 1994 the
quality of Ecstasy improved and it became re-established as the
dance drug of choice.(197)
Amphetamines have always been used along with E in the north(40) and are now
frequently used in London too. Pure MDMA is seldom used as the
main drug, largely due to other drugs being sold as Ecstasy(172, 173), but also out of
choice.
Along with these diversifications in consumption of drugs, the
atmosphere at events also varies widely and in general is less
open-hearted. My impression is that the key rave experience, as
described in Chapter 2, occurs much
less often. The rave parties that still manage to create the
atmosphere from the good old days are those organised by and for
travellers.
Overall, it seems that, like all counter-cultures, raving has
become mainstream but in a diluted form. Rather than being the
exception, it is now normal to take E in a club, but the
proportion of those on E is far smaller and many of them have
also had a few drinks. Clubs need E available to provide a good
atmosphere, so they encourage dealers on one hand while
pretending to try to keep them out.(175)
A new trend is commercialisation of chill out parties. Formerly,
ravers would invite others back to their homes for impromptu
chill out parties. This was very much part of the culture and
still goes on, but now some clubs cater for the same needs of
somewhere to go while coming down off E with comfort and ambient
music. On Ibiza there is a club that opens daily at 6am for the
purpose.
Having read the published reports of surveys concerning
Ecstasy, I felt that none had asked the most important question:
"Has Ecstasy changed your life, and if so, in what
way?" During December 1992, I distributed a dozen 4-page
trial questionnaires and, as a result of the response, reduced
this to a 2-page questionnaire. During January and February 1993,
I distributed 200 survey forms via various people with whom I was
in contact through my research. 46 were returned, though some
respondents skipped several questions.
The sexes were roughly equally represented (20 men to 18 women).
Half of the respondents were under 25 and the majority of these
were 20-23. Respondents tended to be either heavy users who had
taken the drug an average of 73 times, or light users averaging 5
experiences.
75% said they thought that taking Ecstasy had had an effect on
their life. The page of questions and answers on How your
personality may have changed as a result of taking Ecstasy is
given opposite. The most pronounced change was to enjoy dancing
more. There was an increase in spirituality, being more in touch
with the spiritual side of oneself and closer to nature. Another
pronounced change was unexpected: an increase in caring about
other people. Seeing more friends, increased enthusiasm,
increased happiness and self-esteem were also frequently
reported. Negative effects were less pronounced, the most common
being that Ecstasy had made ordinary life seem more boring. Also
reported by some were more depression and illness.
A question concerning paranoia produced the most surprising
result. Although several people felt much more paranoid as a
result of taking Ecstasy, others felt less paranoid. Four of
those who felt much more paranoid were women who had taken only
half a dose or less. All had taken the drug previously. Even more
surprising was that none of these answered that Ecstasy had,
overall, been bad for her: three answered "good" and
one "neutral".
Many people added a few lines about the effect they felt Ecstasy
had had on their life. Most implied that the drug had enhanced
their social lives, and mention was frequently made of profound
experiences varying from intimate to philosophical.
So as to throw light on the theory of 'inappropriate bonding'
versus the theory that 'whatever you do on E will be right', I
asked Have you ever fallen in love on Ecstasy, and if so how did
it turn out? There were 7 responses. 2 said they were still in a
relationship started on Ecstasy; 2 said they were already
involved but became much more in love with their partners; one
had a 3-day blissful romance that ended abruptly with a bump; one
said she had made several wrong choices on Ecstasy and one
described how both partners were embarrassed the next day about
what they had said to each other.
The sample was too small and self-selected to draw conclusions
from, but it does appear that many users experience changes well
beyond the immediate effect of the drug. However, a major
obstacle to drawing conclusions from such a survey is indicated
by one comment, "I can't tell you what changes are due to
Ecstasy, as my life has changed so much anyway". To overcome
this would require comparison with an equivalent sample not
taking Ecstasy. I hope that this will encourage some further
research on what I perceive as the most fascinating and important
aspect of the widespread use of Ecstasy: How does it affect
people's lives?
There have been a number of anecdotes about Catholic and
Protestant kids, brought up to hate one another, taking E
together at raves and ending up hugging.(150) Just possibly this
breakthrough from hatred to affection may extend to relationships
outside the rave, and could just spell the end of hostilities.
I have been told that the IRA used to keep drugs out of Ireland
by kneecapping suspected dealers - a far more effective method
than the law! But in 1993, they dropped this policy with the
result that Ireland enjoyed a freshness of new-found Ecstasy
experience long since lost in England.
In 1990 Ecstasy arrived at the Pennine town of Garston Bridge,
midway between Carlisle and Newcastle. This is one of those rural
communities that was deserted by farmers in the fifties in favour
of better paid jobs in the cities, leaving their old stone
houses, barns and even schools to be sold at rock bottom prices
to ex-city dwellers in the sixties and seventies - mostly
ex-hippies in their late twenties settling down to start a
family. Typically these people got jobs or started their own
businesses and lost interest in drugs, apart from hash, until
Ecstasy arrived. Their children are now teenagers who, having
been to school with the local farmers' children, mix more with
the indigenous population than the parents do. There is plenty of
social life since people think nothing of driving 30 miles to a
party, and the generations mix freely - at any party you can find
all ages from 5 to 50.
Although country dwellers, these people kept up strong ties with
their city backgrounds, mostly in London, so they were not far
behind when raves became popular. At first these were mini-raves
in their houses or larger raves of up to 500 people in barns or
marquees, usually far enough away from other houses to avoid
disturbing neighbours who might call the police. Even though the
harsh 'Tribal-techno' style of music was unpopular at first, a
core group of 20 or so enthusiasts quickly developed, who would
fix up a party every week or two where they would take E and
dance all night. Daniel, one of the rave organisers and a
long-standing member of the community, told me: "There's a
great atmosphere, you could say euphoria even, the ultimate
party. The raves provide a safe environment where you can be your
true self and realise that you're OK. I always have a fabulous
time in a non-egotistical way."
Between parties, people would meet more often than before and
communicate more wholeheartedly. "Although we had known each
other for so long, it took Ecstasy to break through the very
British taboo about hugging one another," Daniel said. But
the new closeness also caused crises in couples' relationships.
"We became more open and truthful. If couples had stayed
together through habit, then it came out". Life was taken
more seriously and heartfelt: honest expression was valued more
than easy, superficial encounters. "Some people went too far
and let go of the framework of their lives. At one time there was
a myth that everyone involved would lose their jobs," Daniel
said. But people would support each other through crises and
there was usually someone who understood the problem well enough
to be of help.
Up till then, this community had been strictly non-religious. But
Ecstasy brought about spiritual development in many of the
individuals. "It brought me closer to God", claimed one
woman, and "I began to see myself as the source of
love" said another, while Daniel remarked that "Being
able to transcend the ego leads to self knowledge".
When looking back over the early days of Ecstasy use, people in
the community commonly said that the emotional agony of one
member had been felt by everyone else, as if it were their own.
The community became very intimate: people who had known each
other as neighbours for 10 or twenty years felt suddenly bonded
in a far deeper way through the weekend raves. For most people
the raves were a joyful celebration, but some people did
experience paranoia and one man who took a lot of E and LSD
smashed up his own house. Others took some fairly drastic
decisions during this period: a long-term couple split up with
the man giving away everything he owned to "free himself of
material things" so as to be able to develop his "inner
self". He was last heard of cleaning trains in Gothenburg. A
single parent, a woman in her mid thirties, felt that she had
glimpsed her true destiny and had to follow it. She left her two
children with their grand parents, said goodbye and disappeared.
Daniel said that some new serious relationships had formed, but
these were unlike the casual affairs that were the pattern
before. "You can't seduce, cheat or lie on E," he
explained. The great majority of couples did stay together and
developed much closer bonds; even single people felt that their
quality of life was improved. The few outsiders who attended
became like old friends overnight - two men who had never met
before spent the next week travelling together.
The first ravers were of the parents' generation, but they were
later joined by their teenage children and the children's friends
and, after a year or so, by some younger members of the
indigenous community. As more people joined, the raves became
less intense but instead began to be accepted by the wider
community, though the original group still set the style. A
series of raves were held in village halls until the police
clamped down and one was stopped by a court order. Since then
they have been held in farm buildings without being publicly
advertised; tickets have been sold at cost price - #5 to friends
through the grapevine.
At least three quarters of the people at these parties take
Ecstasy and sometimes virtually everyone takes the drug. The most
common dose is a single E, but a half E is common and a few
people take several Es at a time. Many also smoke dope right
through the night, but hardly anyone drinks alcohol or takes
amphetamine. In fact most have stopped social drinking because,
as Daniel put it, "Alcohol doesn't get you there, but E
does". These people don't use Ecstasy outside parties.
"It isn't just the drug, it's a package: Ecstasy, the
company, the music, the lights, the dancing. It's a tribal sort
of experience, a ritual that depends on all of these things
combined," Daniel explained.
The police don't try to stop the parties but sometimes search
people on their way in, so some ravers cautiously swallow their
tablet just before they arrive. When on a couple of occasions
people were found with cannabis, they were taken down to the
police station, cautioned and returned to the party by police
car. It seems that, in view of their limited resources, the
police regard the new rave scene as something to be tolerated.
There has been no shortage of good E via the old established
connections for scoring dope - friends club together to send
someone to the city who buys in bulk and covers his or her costs
and own E consumption rather than making a profit.
The conversion of Garston Bridge to Ecstasy was seen as
overwhelmingly positive by the people involved, but as
destructive by observers in another community some miles away.
There the drug was enthusiastically taken up by some while others
saw it as shallow and negative, even dividing some couples. Those
in favour would point to the new sense of caring between people,
while the others pointed to the break up of long-standing
relationships that they felt were imperative for the welfare of
the children. Nevertheless, Ecstasy spread to this and other
neighbouring communities, albeit in a less intense way: parties
typically have a few people taking E while others drink or smoke
hash, with some people doing a bit of all three. A man who does
not take E described how the 'openness and honesty' seem
paper-thin to him: "It's over the top, all this display of
affection and free expression. It doesn't feel real to an
observer and actually alienates people, especially if, like me,
you happen to have been on the receiving end of some pretty
hurtful remarks". This view is supported by an experienced
doctor who believes that openness and honesty only apply to new
users.(161)
Looking back, it was commonly felt that Ecstasy had caused the
biggest upheaval in Garston Bridge since the arrival of the first
freak settlers. "I see it as middle-age crisis on a group
level. We needed something to fill our lives as our children had
done, and along came E," Daniel said.
Mark Gilman, a researcher who works for Lifeline, a
non-statutory drug agency in Manchester, is conducting a study of
drug use among young football supporters. Mark is using
ethnographic methods, which involve socialising with the football
supporters, and he witnessed at first hand their conversion from
drinking alcohol to taking Ecstasy. His own account is included
below.
The derby football matches, in which two teams from the same city
play each other, are notorious for generating violent incidents.
The Manchester derby is no exception. There is a long tradition
of encounters between Manchester United fans and supporters of
Manchester City resulting in trouble. Even when they are not
playing each other there have been some fights when the two
groups meet in the city centre. If United have been playing at
home, the 'lads' will meet up in a city centre bar to drink
Saturday night away. If City have been playing away, their 'lads'
will also make their way back to the centre of Manchester for a
drink. It often happens that, sometime in the course of the
night, the two groups clash and trouble follows. This occurs even
though some of the men come from the same areas and are known to
each other during the week. Saturdays are a special time when
normal rules of behaviour are suspended.
The first derby game of 1989, which took place at Manchester
City's ground in the late summer, was eagerly awaited by both
sets of supporters, because Manchester City had been out of the
first division for some time. Manchester United's lads met in a
pub early on Saturday morning and proceeded to get 'steamed up'
on alcohol in preparation for the events to follow. After several
false alerts the United fans finally moved off from the pub at
about 2.30 pm. By this time they numbered several hundred.
Standing on a bridge that the United fans pass over on their way
to the City ground, I looked back at the approaching horde. Their
demeanour and presence was similar to those pictures you see of
American GI's in Vietnam: they were moving at a semi-trot and
psyching each other up for violence. When they reached City's
ground, the United fans infiltrated the City end and the game was
held up as police moved in to sort things out. Several arrests
followed. After the game, sporadic fights broke out on the road
to the city centre and in and around city centre pubs. All in
all, it was a particularly violent day in a long history of
violent days.
The corresponding fixture took place on a Saturday in February
1990. During the day a similar sequence of events took place, but
this time the violence intensified, culminating in a running
battle between United and City fans, which went on late into the
night. During the battle, several pubs were smashed up and one
young man was very seriously injured. An even more violent day in
a long history of violent days.
The following season the kick off to the first derby game was
brought forward to 12 noon. Despite an early drinking start this
seemed to cut down on the trouble. By the time of the second
derby, United had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup
Final to be played in Rotterdam and nobody wanted to miss that by
being arrested at the derby game, so it passed off fairly
peacefully. The timing of the season's games largely neutralised
the supporters' inclination to violence.
The first derby game in the 1991/92 season fell on a Saturday,
but by this time something quite remarkable had happened. Many of
the hard-core lads from both United and City had spent most of
the summer dancing the weekends away to the sounds of house music
at raves fuelled by the drug Ecstasy. They had done this
together! They had got into a routine of meeting up at rave clubs
and taking Ecstasy in groups comprising both United and City
lads.
On the night of Friday November 15, 'derby eve', another
traditional time for preliminary skirmishing, a group of United's
lads were preparing for the game not with the traditional pub
crawl followed by a visit to a beery night club but by attending
a low key rave at a smallish club in a nearby town and taking
Ecstasy. Having swallowed their tablets and gone into the club,
the United lads grouped in a corner of the bar. There were about
a dozen of them. As they sipped their drinks waiting to 'come up'
on their Ecstasy tablets, they noticed a small group of City lads
with whom they had crossed many a sword.
One young man who was very new to the Ecstasy/rave scene, but
something of a veteran of derby match violence, said that a
shiver went down his back at the thought of what he expected to
happen. "I thought - Oh no! - I don't believe this! Here I
am, I've just necked an E; I'm just about to have the time of my
life and it's going to go off [there's going to be a fight] with
City," he said. "I'd only had E a couple of times then
and I just couldn't imagine fighting off it - no way! Anyhow, X
[one of the City lads] comes over and the last time I saw him he
wanted to kill me and everybody like me. I thought, 'Hello, here
we go,' and he just stands at the bar at the side of me and says;
'Well who'd have thought that we would be stood side by side the
night before a derby game and there's no trouble in any of us.
It's weird innit? It could never have happened before E'. Well I
thought to myself, 'Thank Christ for that,' and I had a can of
Red Stripe to get back into it. It wasn't a great night as nights
on 'E' go, the DJ was shit and the club was only half full and
most of them were bits of kids, but it was sound enough. The best
part was when I went to the toilet to get a drink and cool down.
I'm stood at the sink pouring water over my head from a pint
glass and looking at the size of my eyes and up behind me comes X
[the City lad] and he's buzzing his tits off [on Ecstasy] and he
says; 'This is better mate. This is better!' And he was dead
right it was better, much better. They even came back to this
house where we go for a smoke [of hash] after the raves. I went
home to bed about 5 am. and, as I lay there waiting to get to
sleep, I couldn't stop thinking how right he was this could never
have happened before E."
The next day the United fans met up around 9 am. as usual for the
derby game. Obviously, some of them had had very little sleep. In
fact some hadn't had any. They had just gone home for something
to eat; a bath and a change of clothes. Although drinking alcohol
was again prominent in the pre-match build up, it was challenged
by, or combined with, taking hash and amphetamines.
As United's fans moved off, there were, as usual, several hundred
of them. But from the vantage point of the same bridge I had
stood on two seasons earlier, I could hardly believe that this
group was largely made up of those same young men who had looked
like they were about to go to war. This time they looked more
like they were going to Glastonbury festival! Despite the
protestations of some of the beer monsters who tried to drum up
enthusiasm for trouble, this was a loose passive grouping; a
rag-taggle army of Ecstasy-taking hedonists. They were looking
forward to the night's Ecstasy. The match went off with hardly
any trouble and afterwards United and City's lads once again
danced the night away on, and in, Ecstasy. Just as the City lad
said, it could never have happened without E.
In early 1993 Mark told me that the latest trend for this group
of people is back to alcohol and, for the first time, cocaine
("You can hear the chopping in the toilets"). He
believes this is partly due to the poor quality Ecstasy on sale
[much contains no MDMA] which has put many users off the drug,
and also because of overuse resulting in less empathic
experiences. "E's mellow, there's genuine communion taking
place, but coke's a selfish drug and alcohol goes with
violence." That good atmosphere has been lost, but so many
people miss it and hope it will return one day. In fact, the
level of soccer hooliganism dropped to its lowest level for five
years that year.(50)
[Contents]
[Chapter 4][Chapter
6]
E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
HTMLized by Lamont Granquist (lamontg@u.washington.edu)