'We’re going to see young people die': Ecstasy use by school students doubles in three years

Basically the first step this country should take is for pill testing at music festivals. This is the best first step because:

A. It shows the user what is actually in their drug (adulterants) as well as the actual potency of the MDMA. You can't get this information from a home test kit.

B. It shows what adulterants are currently in circulation on the black market. Police are users can be better informed of what to look out for and this has actually been shown to change the black market for the better.

C. The actual booths at the festivals can be used as a point to provide education or for users to reach out for help.

In the case of Portugal, they had a completely different situation to use so we can't really say that full decriminalisation will straight up work in Aus. They didn't have an ice or MDMA problem. They had a heroin problem which their new laws combated. Decriminalisation may reduce stigma and help people receive treatment for addiction, but it may not reduce other harms such as adulterants, varying potency and overdoses from polydrug use.

We need better understanding and education around illicit drug use in this country and these harm reduction initiatives are the best first step i.e. pill testing, needle exchange programs, opioid replacement therapies. In the case of MDMA, the vast majority of users take the drugs at music festivals and clubs so that's what we should target.

I also think there needs to be more education around the side effects and potential dangers of MDMA use. MDMA is classed uniquely as an 'empathogen', meaning that the user experiences greater empathy or feelings of closeness to others. It's the only class of drug that does this which is why it's so popular. Basically MDMA is a mixture of stimulating (amphetamine) type effects with psychedelic type effects. So it's somewhere between drugs like LSD and drugs like speed (amphetamines). The former effect accounts for the start of the name MDMA which is methylenedioxy; the latter effects account for the methamphetamine. Somewhere in the middle is the unique empathy effect. In terms of the actual effect on the brain, MDMA causes a net increase in the amount of neurotransmitters in the synapse- mainly serotonin. After taking MDMA, people experience 'the comedown'. This is because serotonin is actually depleted after the drug wears off. Anyway, there isn't actually scientific consensus on whether serotonin is depleted over the long term with high amounts of use.

/r/australia Thread Link - smh.com.au