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ICJI > Governor's Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana (DFI) > Club Drugs > Ecstasy Ecstasy

What are street names/slang terms for it?
Adam, Bean, E, Ecstasy, M, Roll, X, XTC

What is it?
MDMA or Ecstasy (3-4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), is a synthetic drug with amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic properties.

What does it look like?
Ecstasy comes in a tablet form that is often branded, e.g. bunnies, swoosh, CK.

How is it used?
Taken in pill form, users sometimes take Ecstasy at "raves," to keep on dancing and for mood enhancement. Older teens and college students often frequent raves.

What are its short-term effects?
Short-term effects include psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia - during and sometimes weeks after taking MDMA. Physical symptoms include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating.

What are its long-term effects?
Recent research findings link MDMA to long-term damage to those parts of the brain critical to thought and memory. Chronic use of MDMA was found, first in laboratory animals and more recently in humans, to produce long-lasting, perhaps permanent, damage to the neurons that release serotonin, and consequent memory impairment.

What is its federal classification?
MDMA is a Schedule I drug.

For more information on how to join a community coalition to fight substance abuse in your area or for additional information on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, contact the Governor’s Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana at 866-777-0007.

The Governor’s Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana, a division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, is the state’s lead agency for combating substance abuse in Indiana. The agency strives to reduce the incidents of substance abuse for all Hoosiers. The Commission works with 92 Local Coordinating Councils (community anti-drug coalitions) to ensure that each county in the state is aware of the most up-to-date and pressing substance abuse issues.

If you would like more information, please contact us.