SEX, DRUGS & TECHNO MUSIC

Last spring, the Chicago City Council decided "to crack down on wild rave
parties that lure youngsters into environments loaded with dangerous club
drugs, underage drinking and sometimes predatory sexual behavior," as the
Chicago Tribune put it. The newspaper described raves as "one-night-only
parties-often held in warehouses or secret locations where people pay to
dance, do drugs, play loud music, and engage in random sex acts" Taking a
dim view of such goings-on, the city council passed an ordinance
threatening to jail building owners or managers who allowed raves to be
held on their property. Mayor Richard Daley took the occasion to "lash out
at the people who produce the huge rogue dance parties where Ecstasy and
other designer drugs are widely used." In Daley's view, rave promoters were
deliberately seducing the innocent. "They are after all of our children,"
he warned. "Parents should be outraged by this."

The reaction against raves reflects familiar anxieties about what the kids
are up to, especially when it comes to sex. As the chemical symbol of
raves, MDMA-a.k.a. Ecstasy-has come to represent sexual abandon and, partly
through association with other "club drugs," sexual assault.

These are not the only fears raised by MDMA. The drug, whose full name is
methylenedioxymethamphetamine, has also been accused of causing brain
damage and of leading people astray with ersatz feelings of empathy and
euphoria (concerns discussed later in this article). But the sexual angle
is interesting because it has little to do with the drug's actual
properties, a situation for which there is considerable precedent in the
history of reputed aphrodisiacs.

A relative of both amphetamine and mescaline, MDMA is often described as a
stimulant with psychedelic qualities.

But its effects are primarily emotional, without the perceptual changes
caused by LSD. Although MDMA was first synthesized by the German drug
company Merck in 1912, it did not gain a following until the 1970s, when
the psychonautical chemist Alexander Shulgin, a Dow researcher turned
independent consultant, tried some at the suggestion of a graduate student
he was helping a friend supervise. "It was not a psychedelic in the visual
or interpretive sense," he later wrote, "but the lightness and warmth of
the psychedelic was present and quite remarkable." MDMA created a "window,"
he decided. "It enabled me to see out, and to see my own insides, without
distortions or reservations."

After observing some striking examples of people who claimed to have
overcome serious personal problems (including a severe stutter and
oppressive guilt) with the help of MDMA, Shulgin introduced the drug to a
psychologist he knew who had already used psychedelics as an aid to
therapy. "Adam," the pseudonym that Shulgin gave him (also a nickname for
the drug), was on the verge of retiring, but was so impressed by MDMA's
effects that he decided to continue working.

He shared his techniques with other psychologists and psychiatrists, and
under his influence thousands of people reportedly used the drug to enhance
communication and self-insight. "It seemed to dissolve fear for a few
hours" says a psychiatrist who tried MDMA in the early '8os. "I thought it
would have been very useful for working with people with trauma disorders."
Shulgin concedes that there was "a hint of snake-oil" in MDMA's reputed
versatility, but he himself considered it "an incredible tool." He quotes
one psychiatrist as saying, "MDMA is penicillin for the soul, and you don't
give up penicillin, once you've seen what it can do."

Shulgin did not see MDMA exclusively as a psychotherapeutic tool. He also
referred to it as "my low-calorie martini," a way of loosening up and
relating more easily to others at social gatherings. This aspect of the
drug came to the fore in the '8os, when MDMA became popular among
nightclubbers in Texas, where it was marketed as a party drug under the
name Ecstasy. The open recreational use of Ecstasy at clubs in Dallas and
Austin brought down the wrath of the Drug Enforcement Administration, which
decided to put MDMA in the same legal category as heroin.

Researchers who emphasized the drug's psychotherapeutic potential opposed
the ban. "We had no idea psychiatrists were using it," a DEA pharmacologist
told Newsweek in 1985. Nor did they care: Despite an administrative law
judge's recommendation that doctors be allowed to prescribe the drug, the
ban on MDMA took effect the following year.

Thus MDMA followed the same pattern as LSD, moving from discreet
psychotherapeutic use to the sort of conspicuous consumption that was bound
to provoke a government reaction.

Like LSD, it became illegal because too many people started to enjoy
it.Although the DEA probably would have sought to ban any newly popular
intoxicant, the name change certainly didn't help. In Ecstasy: The MA
Story, Bruce Eisner quotes a distributor who claimed to have originated the
name Ecstasy. He said he picked it "because it would sell better than
calling it 'Empathy! 'Empathy' would be more appropriate, but how many
people know what it means?" In its traditional sense, ecstasy has a
spiritual connotation,but in common usage it simply means intense
pleasure-often the kind associated with sex. As David Smith, director of
the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, observed, the name "suggested that it made
sex better." Some marketers have been more explicit: A 1999 article in the
Yournal of Toxicology (headlined "SEX on the Streets of Cincinnati")
reported an analysis of "unknown tablets imprinted with 'SEX'" that turned
out to contain MDMA.

Hyperbolic comments by some users have reinforced Ecstasy's sexual
connotations. "One enthusiast described the feeling as a six-hour orgasm!"
exclaimed the author of a 2 000 op-ed piece in Malaysia's New Straits
Times, picking up a phrase quoted in Time a couple of months before.

A column in The Toronto Sun, meanwhile, stated matter-offactly that MDMA
"can even make you feel like a six-hour orgasm." If simply taking MDMA
makes you feel that way, readers might reasonably conclude, MDMA-enhanced
sex must be indescribably good.

Another reason MDMA came to be associated with sex is its reputation as a
"hug drug" that breaks down emotional barriers and brings out feelings of
affection.

The warmth and candor of people who've taken MDMA may be interpreted as
flirtatiousness. More generally, MDMA is said to remove fear, which is one
reason psychotherapists have found it so useful.

The same effect could also be described as a loss of inhibitions, often a
precursor to sexual liaisons.

Finally, users report enhanced pleasure from physical sensations,
especially the sense of touch.They often trade hugs, caresses, and back rubs.

Yet the consensus among users seems to be that MDMA'S effects are more
sensual than sexual.

According to a therapist quoted by Jerome Beck and Marsha Rosenbaum in
their book Pursuit of Ecstasy, "MDMA and sex do not go very well together.

For most people, MDMA turns off the ability to function as a lover, to put
it indelicately. It's called the love drug because it opens up the dancing.
But they also talk about a sense of connectedness, especially at
raves.Jasmine Menendez, a public relations director in her early 20S who
has used MDMA both at raves and with small groups of friends, says it
provides "a great body high. I lose all sense of inhibition and my full
potential is released....It allows me to get closer to people and to myself."

Too Much Fun

Euphoria is a commonly reported effect of mDmA, which raises the usual
concerns about the lure of artificial pleasure. "It was an incredible
feeling of being tremendously happy where I was and being content in a
basic way," Stevenson recalls of the first time he felt MDMA's effects.

He used it several more times after that, but it never became a regular habit.

Menendez, on the other hand, found mDmA "easy to become addicted to"
because "you see the full potential in yourself and others; you feel like
you won the lottery." She began chasing that feeling one weekend after
another, often taking several pills in one night. "Doing e as much as I did
affected my relationship with my mother," she says. "I would come home
cracked out from a night of partying and sleep the whole day. She couldn't
invite anyone over because I was always sleeping.

She said that my party habits were out of control.

We fought constantly. I would also go to work high from the party, if I had
to work weekends.

The comedown was horrible because I wanted to sleep and instead I had to be
running around doing errands."

Menendez decided to cut back on her MDMA consumption, and recently she has
been using it only on special occasions. "I think I've outgrown it
finally," she says. "I used e to do some serious soul searching and to come
out of my shell, learning all I could about who I really am. I'm grateful
that I had the experiences that I did and wouldn't change it for the world.
But now, being 23, I'm ready to embrace mental clarity fully.

Ecstasy is definitely a constructive tool and if used correctly can benefit
the user. It changed my life for the better, and because of what I learned
about myself, I'm ready to start a new life without it."

Sustained heavy use of MDMA is rare, partly because it's impractical. MDMA
works mainly by stimulating the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Taking it depletes the brain's supply, which may not return to normal
levels for a week or more. Some users report a hangover period of
melancholy and woolly-headedness that can last a few days. As frequency of
use increases, MD's euphoric and empathetic effects diminish and its
unpleasant side effects, including jitteriness and hangovers, intensify.

Like LSD, it has a self-limiting quality, which is reflected in patterns of
use. In a 2000 survey, 8.2 percent of high school seniors reported trying
MDMA in the previous year. Less than half of them (3.6 percent) had used it
in the previous month, and virtually none reported "daily" use (defined as
use on 20 or more occasions in the previous 30 days). To parents, of
course, any use of MDMA is alarming, and the share of seniors who said
they'd ever tried the drug nearly doubled between 1996 and 2000, when it
reached 11 percent.

Parental fears have been stoked by reports of sudden fatalities among MDMA
users. Given the millions of doses consumed each year, such cases are
remarkably rare: The Drug Abuse Warning Network counted nine MDMA-related
deaths in 1998. The most common cause of death is dehydration and
overheating. MDMA impairs body temperature regulation and accelerates fluid
loss, which can be especially dangerous for people dancing vigorously in
crowded, poorly ventilated spaces for hours at a time. The solution to this
problem, well known to experienced ravers, is pretty straightforward: avoid
clubs and parties where conditions are stifling, take frequent rests,
abstain from alcohol (which compounds dehydration), and drink plenty of water.

MDMA also interacts dangerously with some prescription drugs (including
monoamine oxidase inhibitors, a class of antidepressants), and it raises
heart rate and blood pressure, of special concern for people with
cardiovascular conditions.

Another hazard is a product of the black market created by prohibition:
Tablets or capsules sold as Ecstasy may in fact contain other, possibly
more dangerous drugs.

In tests by private U.S. laboratories, more than one-third of "Ecstasy"
pills turned out to be bogus. (The samples were not necessarily
representative, and the results may be on the high side, since the drugs
were submitted voluntarily for testing, perhaps by buyers who had reason to
be suspicious.) Most of the MDMA substitutes, which included caffeine,
ephedrine, and aspirin, were relatively harmless, but one of them, the
cough suppressant dextromethorphan (DXM), has disturbing psychoactive
effects in high doses, impedes the metabolism of MDMA, and blocks
perspiration, raising the risk of overheating. Another drug that has been
passed off as MDMA is paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA), which is potentially
lethal in doses over 50 milligrams, especially when combined with other drugs.

In 2000 the DEA reported io deaths tied to PMA. Wary Ecstasy users can buy
test kits or have pills analyzed by organizations such as DanceSafe, which
sets up booths at raves and nightclubs.

Nervous Breakdown

Generally speaking, a careful user can avoid the short-term dangers of
MDMA. Of more concern is the possibility of long-term brain damage.

In animal studies, high or repeated doses of MDMA cause degeneration of
serotonin nerve receptors, and some of the changes appear to be
permanent.The relevance of these studies to human use of MDMA is unclear
because we don't know whether the same changes occur in people or, if they
do, at what doses and with what practical consequences. Studies of human
users, which often have serious methodological shortcomings, so far have
been inconclusive.

Still, the possibility of lasting damage to memory should not be lightly
dismissed. There's enough reason for concern that MDMA should no longer be
treated as casually as "a low-calorie martini." If the fears of
neurotoxicity prove to be well founded and a safe dose cannot be estimated
with any confidence, a prudent person would need a good reason-probably
better than a fun night out-to take the risk. On the other hand, the animal
research suggests that it may be possible to avoid neural damage by
preventing hyperthermia or by taking certain drugs (for example, Prozac) in
conjunction with MDMA. In that case, such precautions would be a
requirement of responsible use.

However the debate about MDMA's long-term effects turns out, we should be
wary of claims that it (or any drug) makes people "engage in random sex
acts." Like the idea that certain intoxicants make people lazy, crazy, or
violent, it vastly oversimplifies a complex interaction between the drug,
the user, and the context.

As MDMA's versatility demonstrates, the same drug can be different things
to different people.

Michael Buchanan, a retired professor in his early Los, has used MDMA
several times with one or two other people. "It's just wonderful," he says,
"to bring closeness, intimacy-not erotic intimacy at all, but a kind of
spiritual intimacy, a loving relationship, an openness to dialogue that
nothing else can quite match." When I mention MDMA use at raves, he says,
"I don't understand how the kids can use it that way."