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Comment by LandR | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, I'm in the UK and there are still regular late night dance / EDM nights in my city.

I was at one a couple of weekends ago, 11pm - 4am.

A good mix of ages too, people clearly in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. Everyone having a great time, I would guess at least 70% of the people were on something too, (MDMA, Ecstasy etc).

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Fixed venue clubs are definitely dying in the UK. Maybe being replaced by more subversive raves at temporary locations due to lower overheads.

(Neither really my scene).

MDMA and Ecstasy are the same thing afaik

I wonder if what's being called ecstacy is something else entirely now? I feel so out of the loop.

I used that word with a young lady who said she was going to a rave and she couldn't stop laughing. It was like I'd suggested a tea-dance.

PSA: Ebeneezer Goode by The Shamen was released 32 years ago in 1992.

Last time I checked, ecstacy is usually how it is called when in pill form, with the idea that it is not pure MDMA. That is, it may be cut, a combination of drugs or something else entirely.

MDMA/molly is usually in crystal/powder form, with the idea that it is more pure.

But how drugs are called on the street and what they are in reality is constantly changing, there are countless myths, and dealers are not exactly a reliable source of information regarding what they sell.

In reality, that's essentially the same thing. If you look at https://www.drugsdata.org/ you will see that it is mostly just MDMA, the form doesn't matter much.

let's just call it Molly

why?

even though MDMA is the real technical name (and Molly + Ecstasy are nicknames), the name "Ecstasy" is kinda misleading because it's usually MDMA mixed with other stuff, and that's not always good...

the name "Molly" has a pure vibe to it. It's like a warm hug from a friend.

Dr. Andrew Huberman said in his video that MDMA is not actually ecstastic, rather it produce warm feelings and promote inner acceptance and peaceful connections with others.

I always thought calling it MDMA denoted more purity vs Ecstasy, but I was never a candy kid.

MDMA being the substance, Ecstacy being the delivery, you could simplify it as. Ecstacy always have MDMA in it, but typically also other stuff. MDMA is just MDMA, and in itself have different purity depending on how it was made.

"Ecstasy" traditionally contains MDMA - and potentially a host of other substances - in pressed tablet form.

MDMA is typically just that one substance in crystalline powder form.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Forms

That applies to most tablets too. Not sure why mdma tablets warrant a different when other drugs in tablet form that often come with other stuff don't.

In papers maybe, but in the streets, Ecstasy is the pill form of MDMA and is usually cut with other substances (e.g., speed, LSD, etc.). Therefore, when saying "Ecstasy," someone would expect a pill in a funny shape, whereas with "MDMA," they would expect powder.

I would never expect powder when I said MDMA, I would expect crystals or pills. Ecstasy is often said to be cut with other substances, but almost never is, because most other drugs are more expensive and less potent than MDMA. There are often impure batches containing meth or other amphetamines, often other "designer drugs" being pressed into pills and sold as ecstasy while not being MDMA, but rarely intentionally cutting the MDMA with other drugs.

Drug pro-tip: anything powder is garbage, crack comes in rocks (crack users aren't all that picky though, from beeswax to swiss cheese to chalk, from white as snow to bright yellow, usually off-white, it comes in a variety of appearances and textures and users savor the cut - the most favored stuff is usually not the purest), coke comes in chunks (white, off-white, even yellowish, good quality stuff has a flaky structure and pearlescent shine), heroin comes in chunks (from white to tan to black, occasionally gooey), weed comes in nuggets (but used to come in chunks, maybe still does if reggies/illegal weed still exists in your area), meth is long usually clear crystals, molly is shorter and more cuboid crystals, usually colored (pink, tan/brown, only very rarely clear).

2CB, MMC3/4, synthetic Psylobin and others are fine in powder form

You are right, I used the wrong wording here. I meant crystals, not powder. I used the word 'powder' unconsciously because when I was raving, I would break those crystals into powder form to control the dosage better.

Anyway, regarding the difference between ecstasy and MDMA, from personal experience, I cannot remember a time when the effects were the same. Every time I took a pill, the effect was totally different from MDMA. MDMA provided a more 'pure' experience, whereas with advertised 'ecstasy' pills, I experienced hallucinations, memory loss, and a very heavy hangover.

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