Surprising New Facts About Molly:
It’s Not What You Think It Is
Over the past few months the street drug molly has become more than a fun party drug. Numerous overdoses have been happening more frequently at music festivals and clubs nationwide causing molly to become a household name.
“Molly” is a powered form of MDMA, which is a common ingredient in ecstasy, that causes extreme euphoric and sensory effects, and can last from 3 to 6 hours. These effects cause confusion, lowered inhibitions, and the inability to retain water. Because of this many users overdose from dehydration and more importantly die from the unknown chemicals within the capsules. The surge of serotonin released in the brain can cause depression which accompanies severe dehydration due to the body’s inability to retain fluid, and higher body temperature with a rapid heart beat.
In the 70’s it was considered a relationship elixir, and in the 90’s, a club drug called Ecstasy. The designer party drug has been re-branded today as Molly, claiming that the latest version is free from cheap fillers, such as caffeine, and can sell for $30 to $50 in capsule pill or powder form. This cannot be any further from the truth. Although it’s marketed as pure of contaminants, molly is constantly filled with extra additives including various forms of bath salts.
Dr. H. Westley Clark, Director for the Center of Substance Abuse Treatment had this to say about the effects, “You don’t get a uniform reaction and that’s the key issue. It depends on a person’s physiology…What’s more, the toxic reactions are not uniform, ranging from heart damage and liver damage, to loss of consciousness.”
Molly has been linked to at least three fatal overdoses in the past month, one at a concert in Boston and two deaths at last week’s Electric Zoo music festival in New York that are awaiting toxicology reports. “We’re seeing more people in the E.R., more people with toxic reactions and more overdoses from the drug.” Clark remarked. Even though ecstasy overdoses have more than doubled since 2004, the drug’s popularity grows, and so does demand. Synthetic versions of the drug are being sold and marketed as Molly, such as Methylone, a type of bath salt.
“Over the last 3 to 5 years and even earlier, several hundred new or synthetic drugs made their way out of labs into the U.S. Synthetic stimulants, whether it’s ecstasy or bath salts, can produce psychoactive effects like agitation, insomnia, dizziness, delusions, seizures, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, impaired perception of reality and that’s just the short term. Long-term effects are still being ironed out.” according to Rusty Payne, a spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Agency. “When a buyer abuses something called Molly, there’s no way to tell what’s in it, that’s the most dangerous thing about these drugs.”