That's the point. Ecstacy does not have a precise definition. MDMA does. Given this is a trial, it should be labeled what it is.
That's the point. Ecstacy does not have a precise definition. MDMA does. Given this is a trial, it should be labeled what it is.
Ecstasy comes as a pressed pill (presumably containing some MDMA, with the possibility of other drugs/adulterants and fillers).
The only way to know if they were taking pure MDMA in either case is to test it:
Potentially NSFW: https://dancesafe.org/product/complete-set-of-all-8-testing-...
Reagent tests ala what Dancesafe sells are great harm reduction, if the pill fails the test, the pill certainly has 0% MDMA. However, they will not be able to identify that you are taking pure MDMA. I imagine any MDMA+other substance mixture will flag positive. In addition there are probably a few non-MDMA substances that will false-positive that reagent test.
There's an organization out there (https://www.ecstasydata.org/) that does GCMS analysis of pills, the data on what they find (in terms of ratio of substances) is public. So if you want a bit of a sampling of what type of things get sold as "molly" / "ecstasy" you can look there.
To clarify, by "pure MDMA", I did not mean that the substance is 100℅ pure MDMA, but rather that it does not contain other active adulterants.
With reagent tests you can be reasonably sure that a given pill does or does not (most likely) contain only MDMA and (most likely) contain no other (common) adulterants.
If you want to be sure on the actual amount of MDMA and be absolutely certain it contains nothing else, then you absolutely need a lab test.
(GCMS doesn't actually cost much to run, places just charge a lot for it.)
What if your reliable supplier was sold cyanide from an unreliable supplier? Better one of you is wise enough to test it.
However, you can find Ecstasy pills that contain nothing but MDMA and inactive fillers/binders.