In November 1999, just under 30 party-goers in Oakland, Calif. were hospitalized after taking small, green triangles that they had all been sold at a huge rave. They thought they took the real thing. The imposter pills were really DXM , or dextromethorphan, a common cough suppressant. DanceSafe , a non-profit organization that focuses on the rave community's health and safety issues, has an excellent online slide show about how Ecstasy affects your brain. The group has made a name for itself across the United States and Canada with its onsite pill testing programs.
Volunteers go to raves to test supposed Ecstasy pills for purity.
Even if you know the common side effects of Ecstasy and are taking steps to minimize them, you can't be sure how the drug is specifically going to affect you. The results of using Ecstasy over the long haul are as equally unclear and cause for controversy. Because the drug affects serotonin, which we have barely begun to understand, it's hard to say how Ecstasy will affect its users in the future. What any Ecstasy user can tell you, however, is that when you come down, you'll likely feel depressed . Medical research points to the possibility that Ecstasy may cause permanent changes in your brain's ability to regulate mood and may affect memory.