10 the Great British Ecstasy Revolution

10 The Great British Ecstasy revolution MARY ANNA WRIGHT Over the last ten years many people have changedtheir attitudes to drugs. A lot have changed the way they spend their leisure time. Some have changed the way they treat other people. They may have changed the music they listen to. Many have altered how they make money. Some have become slaves to the weekend, having the best night of their lives every single week. Some can take it or leave it. Others have tried to build their lives up to the level they learned to cherish. Hundreds of thousands have experienced the Ecstasy revolution. The Ecstasy revolution is based on a series of profound moments when the baggage of British values was brought out for an airing under the influence of this Class A drug. Packed within the baggage are rules of behaviour deeply ingrained within our society. Rules like the structure of the British class system, the role of men and women and the sanctity of the law have become increasingly untenable. As dissatisfaction with the political system increased and diverse cultures merged, the baggage was unpacked with a questioning of authority. For many, primarily young people, this questioning coincided with an introduction to a new drug and a new social experience. The Ecstasy revolution took time to gather force. In the begin- ning a few people took a few pills at a few parties. Now the E-thos of peace, love and unity has become so much accepted into our social lives it can almost be taken for granted. Experiences that were once considered profound became everyday. The Ecstasy experience involved intense insights into the depth of the human psyche that touched on spiritual revelation or metanoia.' It is THE GREAT BRITISH ECSTASY REVOLUTION 229 guessed that today a million tablets of Ecstasyare taken everyweek in Britain." Those who take it are almost always treated with derision by the media, which tend to slant their stories with an inappropriate emphasis on Ecstasy'slikelihood to kill.When people who take Ecstasyread about it in the press they tend to dissociate themselves from what they read. For many young people the reporting surrounding Ecstasyprompted their first realisation that the newspapers were not alwaystelling the truth. This mistrust of the media went hand in hand with the questioning of authority and a legal systemwhich outlawed a social life gaining in popularity. When the culture surrounding Ecstasyuse came under attack, this disbelief at the moral panic turned, for many, into a more tangible protest. The links with other groups under attack were strength- ened in an affirmation of networks. This chapter will unearth the seeds of the revolution. First it examines the history of Ecstasy(or methylenedioxymethamphetam- ine, MDMAfor short), how it works and how it came by its present legal status. Next the links with dance culture are explored, highlighting the significance of Ecstasywithin DiYculture. Finally the challenges Ecstasy presents are outlined. Such challenges are often on a symbolic level yet are so pervasive to the fundamental structures and habits of society that they have attained significance in terms of long-term radical change. The chapter concludes that the Great British Ecstasyrevolution started in the brains, thoughts and actions of the Great British Ecstasy user. Throughout points are illustrated with extracts of a series of interviews covering representatives from all areas of the dance scene. The Ecstasy story MDMAwas invented in 1912 by a German chemical company. This organisation, Merck, still holds the patent for the drug and this still causes problems with the drug's legal status. A drug cannot be patented twice. Costs involved in carrying out safety tests are recouped if a company owns the patent so maintaining exclusive sales rights. Because no-one but Merck can legally profit from MDMAit is unlikely to undergo the rigorous experiments to which medically useful drugs are subjected." DiY CULTURE It was American chemist, now cult hero, Alexander Shulgin, who inadvertently brought MDMA to public attention. Shulgin had invented an insecticide for the Dow chemical company who then gave him free rein to research what he wanted. Having developed a keen interest in psychedelics through personal experience, he began work devising new psychoactive compounds. He broke with traditional scientific methodologies, testing new drugs on himself and a group of friends rather than using animals. This work continued in his home laboratory long after Dow found his discoveries unacceptable. Shulgin rediscovered MDMAin the mid- sixties. Along with several other drug researchers, he was particu- larly interested in its potential for use as a therapeutic agent. In 1977 Shulgin gave the drug to a therapist friend who was so impressed with its effects he travelled around the States introducing thousands of other therapists to it and training them in techniques which would enable them to use it effectively. MDMA gradually started to gain popularity as a recreational drug and acquired the street name Ecstasy. In America Ecstasy could still be bought legally at this time. The American pattern of usage was different to the one that followed in Britain. While here it tends to be used with big groups of people together at a club or originally a rave, in America it was used with small groups of friends at home in a setting similar to the way marijuana is often smoked. Curiously perhaps, even though house music originated in Amer- ica, it took the British to combine Ecstasywith music. British law is unlike American law in that drugs are not treated as individuals; whole families are grouped together. MDMA, along with MDA,MDEAand other related chemicals often found in street samples of Ecstasy,was classified as a 'hallucinogenic amphetamine' in ClassA, and it was prohibited in 1977 under an order modifying the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. In America, Ecstasy remained legal until 1985, when, by attempting to stop the drug being outlawed, a group of drug researchers brought it into the limelight, spreading awareness to masses of new users. After a scare concerning a totally different drug, the Drug Enforcement Agency clamped down and, using new legislation, banned MDMA.This ban curtailed legitimate research into its therapeutic potential. According to Nicholas Saun- ders, 'the effect of prohibition was to prevent research into the drug without altering the habits of recreational users'." THE GREAT BRITISH ECSTASY REVOLUTION 231 Ecstasy trickled into Britain from the mid-eighties. Some came with the followers of the Bhagwan Rajneesh cult, a little from club- goers and musicians who had ventured stateside. The snowball effect happened after the Balearic island of Ibiza became popular as a destination for party people. Ibiza already had a well-estab- lished drug culture and reputation as a hippie hang-out. In 1987, when the holiday season ended, the unique mixture of seamless DJing and Ecstasywas brought back to London and the acid house phenomenon was born. Over the last ten years Ecstasy use has increased exponentially. Year in, year out, customs seizures increase as more and more people want to take it, often discovering it through their involvement with dance music. Much of the Ecstasy taken is now produced in Europe. For British youth Ecstasy has become a milestone on the road to adulthood like cutting your teeth, riding a bike and losing your virginity: I live with two girls who are eighteen years old.... For them it wasn't a question of growing up, and going down the pub. It was a question of growing up going to dance clubs and taking Ecstasy. That's what they were leading up towards whereas when I was at school it was totally anti-drugs. I wanted to get into pubs which I did when I was 15; now it's different. The dance scene provided an easily accessed network in which Ecstasy could be sold. Friends bought in bulk for each other and the old notion of evil dealers preying on the innocent seemed redundant. This pattern of distribution compounded Ecstasy's popularity on the dance scene; it appeared to unlock an under- standing of the music and everyone involved seemed to know how to get 'sorted'. It would be naive to ignore, however, that, like most things traded illegally,control of Ecstasysupply is often big business for a few very powerful cartels. They are never too 'loved up' to forget how to use intimidation and violence to maintain their position. Because it is so widespread within youth culture it is extremely difficult to pin down the revolutionary potential of Ecstasy.A huge number of people now take what could be seen as a trigger to new waysof behaving. It is hard to sayfor certain whether Ecstasycauses this behaviour or if these people would have been doing whatever --- --_._--- --_ .._--._------ 232 DiY CULTURE they are doing anyway.It seems likely that in a sample as large as the number of Ecstasy users you will find all sorts, from future politicians to anarchists, protesters to conservatives, from the energetic to the apathetic. You cannot say Ecstasy makes you go out and change the world or everyone doing anything significant in Britain today would have taken it. Neither can you say all E- heads (a new derogatory term for the nineties, as smack-head was for the eighties) do little else but hug each other and dance around when they hear a fire alarm or pneumatic drill. To many, for E- head read air-head and file with the other stoners and slackers who cannot hold down a proper job. The Great British Ecstasyrevolution caused a stir because it was not easy to pin a label on the participants.

Load more