What is wrong with the MDMA available today? - v2

[moonyham]

I wanted to add a few more comments and questions.

Your experience lines up with my experiences.

I had a very reliable supplier of pills from 2000 to around 2005 and then he retired. I started getting crystal or powder after that from different people, and it just never hit the same way. I have tried and tried to figure it out. Like you, I have also seen people who have never done MDMA and are still unimpressed with this product. It looks good on regent testing and on lab testing.

Like you mentioned, the tactile enhancement is greatly reduced. This is a key component. Auditory enhancement is also reduced. Sensual/sexual enhancement is reduced. Overall euphoria/empathy are reduced.

Your idea about a shared deficiency is interesting. That could make sense for me and my partner, as we also both eat the same diet and we both have some food restrictions due to sensitivities. But, that would not explain other people I have seen who have not been impressed with the meh product.

I have tried higher doses with no luck. Higher doses only seem to cause sickness for me. I tried 200 mg dissolved in water and it did not improve the experience at all. Wish I had better news.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you both? What is your history of MDMA use? What is hers? Have you used other psychedelics? Did either of you have a comedown or blue Tuesday after this roll? How long did the roll last?

I will try to answer as best I can.

Yes she is a virgin to mdma/all drugs except for weed a couple of times. This was her first experience.

Like you say, tactile and auditory is greatly reduced. Although I found it strange unlike back in the day, myself and my girl both were more sensitive to sound than usual the following day. The lack of energy is what I found most surprising.

I eat gluten free exclusively, she eats mostly gf because we eat together but has a few things she eats like noodles that are glutenous. That's why I asked about the deficiency. What's your situation? Although I was gluten free back in the days when I was first doing mdma.

What do you mean by sickness regarding the 200mg?

I'm just over 30 she's just under. I used mdma only in the 2007-2012 era until the other day. She is virgin like I said. I'm highly experienced with psychedelics, she's never done them. I only do a couple mushroom trips each year now though.

I found I felt a little odd the next day but not terrible. Kind of just exhausted. Reminded me of an alcohol hangover, which I don't drink these days. I felt worse than I remember from the early days.. But I'm also like 10 years older so it could be related more to that.

The experience kicked in maybe an hour in pretty gently and lasted 4ish hours but most of that was very mild. My gf went to bed and fell asleep almost exactly 4hrs after consuming it ( midnight bed time) and she fell asleep strait away. To me that is abnormal as fuck. I didn't as I had taken a little more and ended up staying up quite late but yeah I'd say it felt shorter lasting than what mdma normally is.. Except my jaw was still 'clenchy' when the buzz was gone.

We are both gonna do a higher dose next weekend(200/150mg) and see how that goes..

 

[moonyham]

I don't know if I've just bought low % mdma and we simply dosed too low or this is the meh dma but I think a higher dose will confirm that for me. Its interesting reading that other thread about this topic. I'm what I consider a pretty experienced drug user and this whole experience for me felt off enough to come on bluelight and make a post about it after many years of absence from this site.

 

[moonyham]

The best thing we could really hope for is a regent test that can actually tell the difference between mdma and mehdma.

I thought those tests were pretty good. To me if this drug, whatever it is, can pass a regent and a lab test then wtf. I'm going to look into seeing if I can get my stuff lab tested, I don't know if that service exists in nz.

As for other batches. I don't know as I hadn't done it since 2012. I had a long talk with a friend today who had done it occasionally over the last 10 years and he told me that yeah this is a thing and him and his mates are aware of the shit mdma. Said when people stock the magic stuff it sells fast and when people texting you a week later that they still got some it's usually the shit stuff. His words. This is his experience and he noted that pre 2010 it was all awesome and its only in the last 5-10 years this has been a thing in his circles.

 

[indigoaura]

@moonyham

I eat gluten free exclusively, she eats mostly gf because we eat together but has a few things she eats like noodles that are glutenous. That's why I asked about the deficiency. What's your situation? Although I was gluten free back in the days when I was first doing mdma.

This is interesting to me. My partner and I are both gluten free as well. However, I did not become gluten free until 2010, and I started getting subpar product well before that point. It is interesting to think about whether avoiding gluten leads to some type of deficiency, or if perhaps people who are sensitive to gluten are also pre-disposed to this phenomenon. There are certainly auto-immune factors, genetic factors, etc.

What do you mean by sickness regarding the 200mg?

In the days following the roll, I get a worse hangover with nausea, dizziness, indigestion, belching, and general digestive discomfort. This is not something that ever happened to me with MDMA that had a typical effect. Usually, I felt good the next few days and then had a big mood dip on the "Tuesday" after the weekend roll. The depression was notable and very emo and then would lift abruptly about a week later. With this "meh" product there is no depression afterwards at all, only the physical sickness that feels more like an alcohol hangover.

I agree with you about sleep afterwards. I used to always be energized and loved up all night. Now, I just fall asleep immediately. Shit, I think I could fall asleep WHILE I am on the meh product.

To me personally, the meh product can feel more like xanax than MDMA. I don't know if you have any experience with xanax, but it has that same languid quality.

My partner and I primarily used MDMA for sex. There was nothing better. This product does not have the same effect at all. Yes, we can have sex and it is slightly enhanced, but it is not the same overdrive, all night feeling that it was. Obviously, we are both much older now and hormones have shifted considerably and that is a factor. However, even taking that into consideration, it really just does not have the same physical effects. Without the enhanced tactile enhancement, something significant is lost. I used to sit and just touch velvet or hug a stuffed animal because it felt good. This product does not hit like that.

You and your girl are not really old enough for major hormonal changes to have occurred. You are both the ages that we were when we were having our all-nighters.

I will be very interested to hear how the higher dose goes. I suspect you are not really going to notice any fundamental change in the quality of the experience, but I could be wrong. Your story is very valuable to us, because it is not common to have an experienced user and a MDMA/psychedelic virgin trying the same batch at the same time. There is really no reason why she should not be every bit as fucked up as you used to be in your early rolls.

I was brought back to Bluelight due to a similar situation to you. My partner decided to roll after an extremely long break. He was the one who said "This shit is NOT MDMA." I had been writing it off the whole time as a "ME" problem, but seeing him say that and have the same subpar response brought be back here to try to figure it out.

 

[moonyham]

Wow. The physical feelings, like indegestion and feeling sick. We both burped quite a bit the following hours after swallowing the substance and I had a bit of funny feeling stomach that made it hard to eat the following days. This is why it felt like a alcohol hangover to me and yeah your right, I too never had nausea or burps or any stomach issues from mdma back in the day now that I think about it.

I suspect the gluten thing is a coincidence because I actually sent gf the same year I tried mdma for the first time. So it was never an issue back then.

I'll certainly update with my high dose experience.

 

[moonyham]

Oh and no I've never done xanax or any pharmaceutical stuff like that. Ritalin and oxy are the only pills I've tried in that regard.

@moonyham


This is interesting to me. My partner and I are both gluten free as well. However, I did not become gluten free until 2010, and I started getting subpar product well before that point. It is interesting to think about whether avoiding gluten leads to some type of deficiency, or if perhaps people who are sensitive to gluten are also pre-disposed to this phenomenon. There are certainly auto-immune factors, genetic factors, etc.


In the days following the roll, I get a worse hangover with nausea, dizziness, indigestion, belching, and general digestive discomfort. This is not something that ever happened to me with MDMA that had a typical effect. Usually, I felt good the next few days and then had a big mood dip on the "Tuesday" after the weekend roll. The depression was notable and very emo and then would lift abruptly about a week later. With this "meh" product there is no depression afterwards at all, only the physical sickness that feels more like an alcohol hangover.

I agree with you about sleep afterwards. I used to always be energized and loved up all night. Now, I just fall asleep immediately. Shit, I think I could fall asleep WHILE I am on the meh product.

To me personally, the meh product can feel more like xanax than MDMA. I don't know if you have any experience with xanax, but it has that same languid quality.

My partner and I primarily used MDMA for sex. There was nothing better. This product does not have the same effect at all. Yes, we can have sex and it is slightly enhanced, but it is not the same overdrive, all night feeling that it was. Obviously, we are both much older now and hormones have shifted considerably and that is a factor. However, even taking that into consideration, it really just does not have the same physical effects. Without the enhanced tactile enhancement, something significant is lost. I used to sit and just touch velvet or hug a stuffed animal because it felt good. This product does not hit like that.

You and your girl are not really old enough for major hormonal changes to have occurred. You are both the ages that we were when we were having our all-nighters.

I will be very interested to hear how the higher dose goes. I suspect you are not really going to notice any fundamental change in the quality of the experience, but I could be wrong. Your story is very valuable to us, because it is not common to have an experienced user and a MDMA/psychedelic virgin trying the same batch at the same time. There is really no reason why she should not be every bit as fucked up as you used to be in your early rolls.

I was brought back to Bluelight due to a similar situation to you. My partner decided to roll after an extremely long break. He was the one who said "This shit is NOT MDMA." I had been writing it off the whole time as a "ME" problem, but seeing him say that and have the same subpar response brought be back here to try to figure it out.

 

[indigoaura]

Oh and no I've never done xanax or any pharmaceutical stuff like that. Ritalin and oxy are the only pills I've tried in that regard.

I have prescription for xanax for flight anxiety, so that is the only reason I am familiar.

The indigestion and stomach issues are super weird to me. Yes, it makes it hard to eat in the days afterwards. I have had it so bad I have missed work as a result.

 

[hardtack]

I got 1.5g mdma in the form of large chunks of tan crystal. I tested it with one of glass liquid kits and it signalled it was strong MDMA.

It looks like MDMA. It smells/tastes like MDMA. It crushes like MDMA.

But the high is not what I remember. I used to do a lot of 'ecstacy' through 2007-2012. Sometimes it wasn't MDMA, sometimes it was. Usually it was mephodrone(?) when it wasn't MDMA.

BUT I'll tell you what, no pressed pill, nor mdma gel cap ever had such a.. Mild experience to this stuff I've had.

I don't even know if I have 'energy'. It feels like.. Like a half arsed MDMA? It kinda feels like those times years ago but its so mild. My pupils are big but not full on crazy shark eyes like i used to get but my eyes weren't always huge back then too so that's hard to judge.

I dosed myself 120mg + 100mg 2hrs later.

I never dosed caps or anything back in the day or even opened them to visually get an idea of crystal volume, and didn't ever ask what mg of MDMA was in them. Reading online it seemed 100-150mg was an 'average' doss?

I wanted to err on the side of caution but felt I should feel more from this from this dose?

Interestingly too my girl, a very sober person, having smoked weed 3 times in her life and only rarely would have even just one glass of wine, did some of this MDMA too. Im 75kg she's 55kg. I gave her 60mg.

We both enjoyed touching each other and sex was really good, definitely 'enhanced', but it wasn't that insanely magical sex I remember, not even close. Tactile/touching felt good but only maybe 25-50% better, nothing crazy.


So i guess the question is, am I just not going high enough on the dose?

Is this some fake mdma that can pass those liquid test kits(is that a thing?)

Is my mental state just so different from when I was 18-22yo, that I'm not getting the same 'buzz'. For example I had an insatiable sex drive at that age and could already go hard until the sun comes up, having came dozens of times, without any drugs in my system. Im far from that level now, where one or two bouts of sex a day is enough for me.

Is it a deficiency me and my girl both share as we eat almost all the same food? Is there a mineral or vitamin you can be low in that might dull the effects of genuine MDMA?

Also hello again blue light! I joined this forum in 2007 which feels like a long time ago now. I have had so much life experience between now and then it's entertaining reading my own posts to myself from a decade ago.

Probably not anything close to the real thing made from MDA ie SASS given that name because it was made from sassafras back in the good days. However I did bookoo loads of Methylone and bought several test strips for testing MDMA and pissed on them after a good night out. Boom! Got positive test for MDMA. Not to mention tested it before using with 3 M test kits ..Marquis Mandelin and Mecke and definitely turn pure yellow and brown. 98% pure no question. Real MDMA really does not exist no more. Not unless some country hoarded it from the 90s. Still would be very very weak in strength. Just got to be happy with the Rc's out there and remember the good old days of Raves and 1990's. Mephedrone really was not that great either
as it just gave massive rush but none of the Empathy. Methylone and my favorite 4 MEC definitely has 80% of the power of real MDMA. So like giving up super charged dragster for a Ferrari or Lamborghini is all I can say. But I can sympathize with what you desire. I'm just happy I really got the joy of happiness and fun back in the day. Now good RCs are even gone. Wish I saw that coming when I just had about 200 grams of everything.

 

[hardtack]

90s real MDMA was made from Sassafrass and made pure , plus most of us took it in 3 doses to keep the effect of rolling. Music was perfectly made for it as well. Not to say in mid 2015 music was not that bad. Also take ages too into effect for sure! Our dopamine levels were super high back as teens and in our 20's ? Cannot just say that did not make it work to it's full effect. Did loads of RC's at 45 and 50 & had great effect on me not to mention the club scene was fantastic with good music and the mood of everybody was high as a Kite. That real life experience makes rolling even better. Just happy I also got to experience different effects of altered chems and how the worked. Also people all react different to the chems. I know I shared allot with Cocaine abusers who absolutely loved 4 MEC and Pentylone. Got the stimulation and empathy so 2 for one! Nice part I can still enjoy the music from that era and roll a little bit. One day I will be able to tell my grandkids how incredible doing RC's were and they probably won't even have Booze by then. Do have to say Alexander Shulgin was THE MAN and well glad Chinese did build on his work to make fantastic party chems. Just very lucky in life and manage to experience best of both worlds. However there is another special Chemical that seems to be great in it's own right. However don't know how good it really is???? 4 Methylaminorex ---this one sounds like a cross between MDA and Cocaine.....that should be made in bulk.:hear4t:

 

[Fire&Water]

90s real MDMA was made from Sassafrass and made pure :hear4t:

as was A&W root beer ...

Faygo fucked it up for everybody

 

[hardtack]

as was A&W root beer ...

Faygo fucked it up for everybody

True; like comparing real Coca-Cola to Sam's cola in Wal-Mart.

 

[Fire&Water]

True; like comparing real Coca-Cola to Sam's cola in Wal-Mart.

COCA Cola containing cocaine hcl (late 1920s)
to NEW Coke!

 

[unodelacosa]

COCA Cola containing cocaine hcl (late 1920s)
to NEW Coke!

Ingestion of cocaine still seems oddly wasteful in terms of bioavailability for such an expensive ingredient, but I'm not accounting for the inflationary effects of prohibition.

90s real MDMA was made from Sassafrass

Firstly, it wasn't all pure and for the record, there were fake-ass, pressed & stamped, bunk AF pills sold back then, too. Shit still happened; people were poisoned by PMA, some fatally, in a number of places including Chicago in the late 90s, for example.

Secondly, sassafras contains mostly the allylbenzene, safrole, which needs isomerizing and is then typically converted to an intermediate—MDP-2-P (aka: PMK)—which is then reduced to MDMA (or MDA, MDE, et al.). I'm pointing this out so no one becomes confused thinking only MDMA from the 90s was made from sassafras oil and/or that MDMA made from, say, "PMK-glycidate" is somehow inexplicably different from MDMA made a few decades earlier.

plus most of us took it in 3 doses to keep the effect of rolling.

Redosing is still not uncommon.

Music was perfectly made for it as well.

You're drifting into a Grampa's "Back in my day" rant, haha; it's easy to do…

Did loads of RC's at 45 and 50 & had great effect on me not to mention the club scene was fantastic with good music and the mood of everybody was high as a Kite. That real life experience makes rolling even better. Just happy I also got to experience different effects of altered chems and how the worked.

Agreed. I feel blessed to have tried even half the compounds I've had now. This was a major reason I set up a lab years ago – I thought I was gonna have to make these compounds myself if I wanted to taste them. And yeah going to raves has always been kick-ass.

Nice part I can still enjoy the music from that era and roll a little bit.

Grampa and his 90s Gabber over here…

One day I will be able to tell my grandkids how incredible doing RC's were and they probably won't even have Booze by then.

I'm much more optimistic. Hopefully everything will be legal by then, and they'll have the chance to explore inner space safely and without the danger of crippling legal consequences once they're adults. And they'll admire how courageous their grandparents' generation was for taking those early risks and fighting for everyone's right to explore their own minds. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do have to say Alexander Shulgin was THE MAN and well glad Chinese did build on his work to make fantastic party chems.

Wow. You really see it that way? Like Shulgin was busy designing new "fantastic party chems" (FPCs?), and the "Chinese did build on his work"? As if the Chinese govt. shared a common goal with Dr. Alexander Shulgin (lol) of designing and producing new FPCs (haha), and they actually built on his work. Or like Shulgin was secretly selling RCs and motivated by profits, lol. Obviously this was not the case, as you know. What I'm saying is: it's woefully inaccurate to conflate the life's work of Dr. Shulgin with the profit-incentivized goals and strategies of Chinese RC manufacturers, so statements like this can be misleading to others.

However there is another special Chemical that seems to be great in it's own right. However don't know how good it really is???? 4 Methylaminorex ---this one sounds like a cross between MDA and Cocaine.....that should be made in bulk.

I don't know about "should be made in bulk"—I think I disagree there—but I agree that 4-MAR is a fascinating compound. I've written about it a little on this site some months ago and I've researched it in the past… We're getting a little off-topic… Shoot me a PM if you feel like discussing 4-MAR at all.

[Edited for clarity.]

 

[FallenOne86]

This is what happens when stupid people come together and form something called the DEA! Fuck laws! God created 10 fucking commandments where as American law and other laws for every other country in the world is in the thousands maybe even millions and it’s stacks and stacks of fucking paper. I get we need rules but Jesus fucking Christ we must love killing trees and creating more clutter with all the fucking paper.

Anyways I could be talking out of my ass but there’s a lot of truth to what i mentioned even if you guys are afraid to agree with me cuz I know how people get and fear isn’t gonna get us anywhere I’m just gonna leave it at that.

I’m gonna get some sleep but I’ll come back more level headed my main point was really to blame the DEA for restricting the ingredients to some of these drugs and thus why the MDMA sucks and the Meth sucks and pretty much they are gonna laugh when they take all our fuckjng freedoms and we can’t do drugs, can’t smoke, alcohol will probably still be available but fuck alcohol i outdrink everyone on any given day and even if I used to enjoy doing it back in the day because it “wowed” everyone.. that shit sucked the next day cuz I was always the one to recover the slowest and I’m sorry but puking sucks ass! Id rather not go through that!

Oh but I’m just gonna rant and rant some more so let me get my sleep and if I have anything useful to add that fucking simplifies my answer ill do that.. till then I’m gonna fall into a coma for I don’t know how long. Let’s find out..

 

[indigoaura]

The best thing we could really hope for is a regent test that can actually tell the difference between mdma and mehdma.

I thought those tests were pretty good. To me if this drug, whatever it is, can pass a regent and a lab test then wtf. I'm going to look into seeing if I can get my stuff lab tested, I don't know if that service exists in nz.

As for other batches. I don't know as I hadn't done it since 2012. I had a long talk with a friend today who had done it occasionally over the last 10 years and he told me that yeah this is a thing and him and his mates are aware of the shit mdma. Said when people stock the magic stuff it sells fast and when people texting you a week later that they still got some it's usually the shit stuff. His words. This is his experience and he noted that pre 2010 it was all awesome and its only in the last 5-10 years this has been a thing in his circles.

International Energy Control will test product that is mailed from anywhere in the world. However, their results should be taken with a grain of salt. They do the best they can, but they are unable to identify everything. I have sent product in that has had a result of "MDMA" but the product produces the "meh" effects. If you do send it to them, put a note in and indicate that a MDMA naïve user and an experienced user both had subpar results.

 

[ThreePointCircle]

Sorry I forgot to say: I had a brief email exchange with TicTac which is an UK testing specialist (well at least they claim to be Edit: bit of a snarky comment from me - please ignore) providing services to forensics and commercial. They said they hadn't come across MDDMA even in trace (which I thought was a little strange as I've seen it come up more than once in papers, including a recent street study from the UK so still not 100% convinced they aren't also bs'ing a bit,Edit: again bit snarky, I mean I slightly don't get that in context but note that they did say no evidence of MDDMA from their end), but categorically said the public testing services are not set up to analyse in much detail, and won't be able to do what we want. Additionally they said that forensic labs only screen for banned substances but then they somewhat contradicted that and said that any non-trace components should still come up. They said that no one, including themselves, is doing any quantitative analysis.

They said the only way forward was to find a university interested in doing the investigation. I guess nothing we didn't already know but I was a little confused as to what they were capable of or were doing for their routine work so don't know what to make of their wider thoughts. Anyway, there you go.

 

[indigoaura]

Sorry I forgot to say: I had a brief email exchange with TicTac which is an UK testing specialist (well at least they claim to be) providing services to forensics and commercial. They said they hadn't come across MDDMA even in trace (which I thought was a little strange as I've seen it come up more than once in papers, including a recent street study from the UK so still not 100% convinced they aren't also bs'ing a bit), but categorically said the public testing services are not set up to analyse in much detail, and won't be able to do what we want. Additionally they said that forensic labs only screen for banned substances but then they somewhat contradicted that and said that any non-trace components should still come up. They said that no one, including themselves, is doing any quantitative analysis.

They said the only way forward was to find a university interested in doing the investigation. I guess nothing we didn't already know but I was a little confused as to what they were capable of or were doing for their routine work so don't know what to make of their wider thoughts. Anyway, there you go.

None of this surprises me.

The labs are not going to find what they are not looking for.

According to research, MDDMA is hard to identify within a sample of MDMA. In one study involving an overdose, they identified the MDDMA in the body rather than the sample.

Also, the definition of "trace" is going to shift depending on how much product is being tested. I would have to dig to find the article, but one of the research studies pointed out how the standard submission to a lab is 40 mg, but that some contaminants will not even show up in a 40 mg sample. You would have to submit a much larger sample to even see the contaminant in a high enough amount for it to register.

 

[Ambien Powered Rabbit]

According to research, MDDMA is hard to identify within a sample of MDMA.

the worst sales pitches I have heard all started with that line.
What research?

In one study involving an overdose, they identified the MDDMA in the body rather than the sample.

not sure of your point here. Obviously they had sufficient resources to find and identify mddma among other bodily chemicals... maybe they didn't find mddma in the sample because it was not there. eg.

In vitro studies of drug transformations : application to forensic toxicology

Also, the definition of "trace" is going to shift depending on how much product is being tested.

No, if a lab considers 0.01% helional to be trace amounts it does not matter if they have 40mg or a kilo of that mdma.

They said they hadn't come across MDDMA even in trace (which I thought was a little strange as I've seen it come up more than once in papers, including a recent street study from the UK so still not 100% convinced they aren't also bs'ing a bit)

why even ask? they have no reason to lie about that and you have no reason to suggest they are lying just because you didn't get the answer you wanted.
MDDMA is a very unlikely impurity in EU (even in US where MDA is more common) and even if it was- the chance of it affecting the mdma in a noticeable way is next to nothing. For miniscule amounts to negate, disrupt or reverse all the positives of mdma is not true, same with it being undetectable

 

[ThreePointCircle]

why even ask?

http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/mol.115.101394

MDDMA is a very unlikely impurity in EU (even in US where MDA is more common)

https://doi.org/10.1039/C9AY01403A

suggest they are lying just because you didn't get the answer you wanted.

Yes I shouldn't suggest that. I mean to say I don't fully understand the data set they have collected and the basis on which they are saying what they said (which was somewhat of a passing comment anyway), and that I don't understand it in the context of other academic papers, including the recent one above from the same country.

And I should state for the record that I have no evidence that MDDMA or anything else is the cause of the problems explained on these two threads. And yes I would dearly love if TicTac had said most of their samples contained 20% MDDMA as that would be an explanation of the problems, but they didn't. However, I didn't get the impression from their email that anything should necessarily be ruled out either. In fact, it was their suggestion that to answer the problem would require an academic team to work on it.

 

[indigoaura]

the worst sales pitches I have heard all started with that line.
What research?

not sure of your point here. Obviously they had sufficient resources to find and identify mddma among other bodily chemicals... maybe they didn't find mddma in the sample because it was not there. eg.

In vitro studies of drug transformations : application to forensic toxicology

No, if a lab considers 0.01% helional to be trace amounts it does not matter if they have 40mg or a kilo of that mdma.

why even ask? they have no reason to lie about that and you have no reason to suggest they are lying just because you didn't get the answer you wanted.
MDDMA is a very unlikely impurity in EU (even in US where MDA is more common) and even if it was- the chance of it affecting the mdma in a noticeable way is next to nothing. For miniscule amounts to negate, disrupt or reverse all the positives of mdma is not true, same with it being undetectable

Here is the article in question: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16636864/

Edited to add link to full text - https://sci-hub.st/10.1007/s00414-006-0094-x

MDDM was probably present as a synthesis by-product or impurity in the MDMA tablets, which were taken in a huge amount by the victim, or MDDM was ingested separately and prior to the MDMA overdose.

Thorough investigation of the literature and of the obtained MS/MS spectrum (precursor and product ions) revealed that the initially unidentified molecule was MDDM [8]. Due to the presence of a 1,000-fold higher amount of MDMA and to the lack of selectivity, other techniques, such as HPLC-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and GC-MS, had failed to demonstrate the presence of the unknown designer drug.

A substantial difference in MDMA and MDDM concentrations (several micrograms per milliliter vs nanograms per milliliter, respectively) was disclosed [6]. Therefore, it can be assumed that MDDM was present as a synthesis by-product or impurity in the “ecstasy” tablets taken by the victim. Gimeno et al. substantiated that MDDM can be formed during the clandestine manufacture of MDMA by reductive amination of 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone (MDP2P) by dimethylamine [20, 21]. This MDDM formation takes place because of the presence of dimethylamine as a contaminant in methylamine [22].

Information about overlapping peaks on GCMS testing is readily available in a variety of articles, many of which are linked in the second post of this thread. Overlapping peaks make it difficult to identify certain synthesis byproducts, contaminants, and copy-cat chemicals.

The information that I mentioned about "trace amounts" not being detectable in 40 mg samples is also available in articles linked in the second post of this thread.