The number of visits to U.S. emergency rooms involving MDMA has jumped 123 percent since 2004, according to data compiled by the Drug Abuse Warning Network. In 2011, the most recent year on record, there were 22,498 such visits.
In the New York concert deaths, the medical examiner found lethal mixtures of MDMA and methylone, a synthetic stimulant, the DEA said.
“It’s exactly the same phenomenon that occurred with ecstasy a decade ago,” said Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine and an expert on MDMA. “Ecstasy had terrible reliability and it’s the same with Molly. Though it’s being marketed as pure MDMA, it’s a hoax.”
Overdose symptoms can include rapid heart beat, overheating, excessive sweating, shivering and involuntary twitching.
Grob said references in pop culture can fan misconceptions.
Miley Cyrus admitted in July that a lyric in her new dance anthem “We Can’t Stop” was a reference to Molly. Last year at a Miami concert, Madonna, the mother of a teenager, asked: “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” She later said she was referring to a friend.
The illusion that MDMA is somehow less harmful has been branded with Molly, according to Anna.
“I have definitely heard that people think that it’s pure. I have some friends that are like ‘I only want to do Molly. I won’t do other stuff’ because it’s marketed as something that’s somehow better,” said Anna. “But actually no one knows what’s in it. All of it is a gamble.”
(Editing by Scott Malone and Gunna Dickson)
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