Despite this, on average, only a minority of EWSD respondents reported obtaining the drug online, although this varied widely across countries. MDMA is one of the most frequently traded drugs online across a range of platforms, including darknet markets (see Section Trafficking and distribution — online trade and distribution on darknet markets) as well as surface web and social media platforms. Some substances found in these drugs can be toxic, even at low doses and even pure MDMA can be dangerous. For example, many people who use drugs recreationally access internet-based resources to obtain and exchange advice and information about their drugs of choice, with experienced ‘recreational’ drug users frequently offering experiential ‘knowledge’ to young people new to dance club scenes. Despite their image as risk-taking hedonists, people who use drugs recreationally do seek out and share harm reduction strategies, often alongside ‘pleasure maximisation’ strategies (the latter often requiring considerable knowledge of drug research, policy and practice). Given the right information and opportunities, most people who use drugs will make rational risk-management decisions when they do so.
Harms and ris


It’s important to be careful when taking any type of drug. This makes it hard to know what reactions to expect after taking MDMA or if negative side effects will be experienced. RAND is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. In essence, cryptomarkets have grown at a fairly decent rate since 2013, but their global impact could be overstated — for now. The specialization also reflects the interconnection of physical and virtual drug distribution channel


In a study commissioned for this analysis, wastewater estimates were found to give different results, either higher or lower, than demand-based estimates, depending on the drug concerned. In these cases, the missing information was replaced with the mean, computed on the remaining countries. In calculating the amounts used, it was assumed that the maximum realistic amount to use in a day was five tablets; those reporting higher values were excluded. The amount of MDMA used annually by these two different user buy mdma groups was estimated using data from the EWSD.
Wastewater-based methods
Tuci or tucibi (also spelled tusi and tusibi) are phonetic transliterations of ‘2C’ (a series of psychoactive phenethylamines) or ‘2C-B’ (one of the most well-known derivatives of that series of substances). These signals were reported to the EU Early Warning System from 2022 onwards, based on identifications occurring in Spain, the Netherlands and Austria, and there are similar indications for the United Kingdom (Pascoe et al., 2022). One relatively recent adulteration pattern is the increase of synthetic cathinones mis-sold as MDMA or used to adulterate MDMA. Interestingly, synthesis by-products were also commonly reported, about which little is known and which may pose additional risks to consumers.
Increased ener


Studying the drug purchasing behaviours of users is useful for understanding market dynamics, but challenging given the clandestine nature of these transactions. The increasing use of the darknet to buy MDMA (and other drugs), and the embrace of harm reduction services such as drug safety checking, are clear indicators of this. It is clear that MDMA has a considerably more resilient popularity than any other amphetamine-type stimulant buy mdma or synthetic drug that has entered the market in recent history. As so often, enforcement interventions have failed to prevent rising use, or prevent supply in the longer term, instead only serving to temporarily displace using behaviours and mutate the market in ways that increased health harms. Of those who reported obtaining MDMA in the 2019 Global Drug Survey, 67% reported having obtained it through the darknet — higher than for any other dru


While individual tablet weight cannot be a direct predictor of how much MDMA is present in each tablet, at population level this trend is consistent when comparing larger ecstasy tablets (almost always containing more MDMA) with smaller tablets (almost always containing less MDMA). This means that the ratio of MDMA to fillers (excipients) in the mixtures used to make ecstasy tablets did not increase over this time period. In the first period, between 2011 and 2019, the increase in MDMA content is largely attributed to the sale of larger (heavier) ecstasy tablets. This means that consumers buying ecstasy tablets in Europe in 2019 would obtain a product containing up to almost double the highest amount of MDMA recorded in ecstasy tablets in 2011. In Australia, in January 2024, potent opioids of the nitazene family were found in brightly coloured tablets with logos reminiscent of ecstasy tablet