Drug welfare groups advise MDMA users to 'crush-dab-wait'

A new MDMA awareness campaign, Crush-Dab-Wait, has launched today,

Put together by community interest companies The Loop and Chill Welfare and supported by The Warehouse Project, it advises a much safer approach to anyone choosing to use drugs recreationally: to crush crystals of MDMA, ingest a dab of around 70 to 100mg and wait around an hour or two for the effect before taking more.

Although The Loop and Chill make it clear they don't condone drug use, they've launched the campaign to ensure people take drugs safely after a drug-related death at a festival in the United States and a teenager collapsing in Scotland. It also follows testing in the UK revealing the purity of MDMA crystals to be at 83%.

Fiona Measham, co-director of The Loop and director of its drug testing programme, says: "My research shows that MDMA crystal remains the most popular party drug amongst festival goers and clubbers but purity and contents can vary considerably in illegal markets.

"When purity increases it takes a while for behaviours to readjust and we often see more problems. We want to keep people safe and advice as simple as 'crush-dab-wait' could save lives."

Director of Chill Welfare, Katy Macleod, adds that the 'crush-dab-wait' slogan is essential for anyone taking MDMA crystals.

"It's difficult to judge the dose of MDMA crystal so this can lead to users taking more and experiencing unpleasant and sometimes life threatening side effects. Equally people should be aware that mixing with other drugs including alcohol increases the likelihood of adverse side effects."