Quick Links:  Ecstasy Statistics      Neurotoxicity     The User's Guide      MDMA Technical FAQ   

'Ecstasy' Pills Getting Weaker (8/6/03)      Confirming what many users have long believed, British researchers have reported in the journal Addiction that between 1995 and 2001 the average MDMA content of pills analyzed by UK forensics labs fell from about 100 mg to 73 mg: Year MDMA (mg) # of pills tested 1991 102 36 1992 90 15 1993 103 7 1994 99 46 1995 100 12 1996 88 46 1997 75 88 1998 77 76 1999 82 96 2000 74 215 2001 73 228        The strength of pills varied considerably, with the vast majority of pills containing between 50 and 90 mg of MDMA:       The authors report that of the 228 tablets analyzed in 2001, all contained MDMA, with a number also containing small amounts of MDEA (a close cousin of MDMA, possibly produced by accident, ie. from the use of methylamine that contained some ethylamine as a contaminant.)     Although this data was collected in the UK, given that the majority of the world's 'ecstasy' trade appears to originate from the same region (Western Europe) it seems likely the situation is similar in other nations.