Ecstasy-related deaths are at a record high – but what can be done about it?

Ecstasy-related deaths are at a record high. 63 were reported by the Office of National Statistics in 2016 across England and Wales, the highest annual number since records began in 1993 (when just 12 were recorded).

And there’s a heightened risk to women in particular after taking the drug, as they’re two to three times more likely to seek emergency treatment after consumption than men, according to Global Drugs Survey findings.

Then there’s new and dangerous substances being passed off as E such as Pentylone and N-Ethyl-Pentylone, pills and powder that's stronger than ever and new recreational habits that involve combining ecstasy with substances such ketamine which all lead to growing concerns for the welfare of club drug users. “Pentylone was a real problem at Creamfields, it was a real problem at Boomtown, and we’ve seen problems all summer with it because it looks identical to MDMA,” says Fiona Measham, director of The Loop and Professor of Criminology at Durham University.

If you’ve partied at Manchester’s Warehouse Project over the past four years, you’ll be familiar with The Loop because the organization provides drug safety testing, welfare and harm reduction services - as well as offering up invaluable advice and potentially life-saving warnings. Likewise, if you’ve trekked with your tinnys in tow to a select few festivals such as Secret Garden Party this summer, you’ve probably spotted The Loop’s team dotted around to help you work out what’s in your rain-soaked baggies.

I talked to Measham about the predominance of female fatalities (take the supposed drug-related death of Louella Michie at Bestival last month for example, or the death of Joana Burns back in July), and asked if the increased risk to women stemmed from an innate desire to keep up and consume equal amounts to male friends. “It’s not necessarily women wanting to keep up with men,” she told me, “but I think it’s more the fact it’s difficult to appropriately dose when you don’t have an easy way to do it.”

“There are also issues relating to BMI, issues in relation to women being smaller and slighter, and proportionately therefore smaller and slighter people should take a smaller amount to match their body weight – milligrams per kilograms. But of course the thing with pills is they just come in one size, they don’t come in big people sizes and small people sizes!”

Scientific research into the relationship between women and stimulant substances is still in the early stages but past studies have shown that women are potentially more sensitive to amphetamines in the days leading up to ovulation. And with other hormonal based conclusions also being drawn in recent research, it comes as no surprise to learn that due to the pragmatics of simply being female, there does seem to be growing evidence that taking substances like ecstasy at certain points in the menstrual cycle can pretty much fuck with your experience.

23-year-old Zoë is a student who first tried MDMA during her time as a fresher at university. Having grown up on the outskirts of London, her prior experience with recreational drugs as part of a nightlife culture had been next to none. “People used to take pills here and there” she tells me, “but it wasn’t until I moved here and found a music scene I was really into that I understood the appeal of it. Now, with the type of nights I go to, and the crowd and people I interact with on a night out, it’s definitely my drug of choice. A lot of the time, I don’t even drink, as for me I find it all a bit too much, but it’s finding what works for you, I feel. If I take too much though, which happens more with powder than pills, it can screw with my mood for what feels like forever.”

According to Dr Winstock, when his team researched this particular issue a few years ago, they found that “when women seek emergency care, they turn up with more hallucinations, more paranoia and a much lower mood. It also takes them much longer to recover. It’s not a case of having a shit night and being back to normal on Monday morning. They are feeling lousy for weeks.”

If both biological disadvantages and dosage dilemmas are at play, does that mean ecstasy should be avoided by women all together – or approached with an added air of caution on top of the long-standing precautions of recreational drug usage? As Measham explains: “Women are more interested in ecstasy than they are other Class A stimulant drugs, I think, because it’s got more of a friendly, loved up and benign image. I think there’s the appeal of ecstasy itself and the appeal of its effects, and then there’s the appeal of dance club cultures and why women may want to be involved in dance club cultures.”

However, it would be wrong to dub the drug as something that solely affects female users in an extreme way. “I was talking to a father whose son had died from taking ecstasy so there are still plenty of men taking it and dying. It’s just having that balance right and for everyone knowing the right dose for them, as often quite a lot of the guys dying are smaller and slighter as well,” Measham tells me.

I spoke to 20-year-old Luke*, who suffered a partial blood clot to the brain, resulting in a mini-stroke after consuming a dangerous concoction of pills, speed and prescription medication earlier this year. Thanks to his friends at the venue he collapsed in, he was able to receive treatment quickly and made a swift recovery. Unfortunately others haven’t been so lucky.

Although more E-related deaths are being reported now, the issues we are facing with the drug aren’t new. While the strength of MDMA and the contents of pills may vary (or indeed be more powerful) from the heydays of rave, staying safe means keeping the core messages of drug safety in mind even after all these years.

Dr Winstock explains what the basic rules are: not taking pills more than 10 times a year, always test dosing, making sure you are with someone who can look after you and not starting on pills once you’re pissed. According to him, “If you follow those rules, they are a really good start, and they are things lots of people do know already.”

“If more than anything else though” he adds, “the biggest thing is just looking out for your mates. If you can’t wake a mate, you call for help.”

And with The Loop’s Twitter regularly updated with warnings and alerts, it’s easy to be proactive about your pills and powders. Checking, testing, and just being generally more aware about what you’re taking can help you stay safe and enjoy your night whether it’s spent down front or chatting shit to strangers in a smoking area.

“We really want to encourage manufacturers to do more and to be more responsible about their consumers” Measham urges. “I don’t doubt people will laugh at that and say ‘that’s a ridiculous thing to do they’re selling illegal drugs’ but manufacturers don’t want to kill their customers. So, I think the message back to manufacturers is: ‘please could you put a double score line on so people can break these things into four, and think about your customers.’”

*name has been changed

Jasmine Kent-Smith is Mixmag's Digital Intern. Follow her on Twitter