As someone who used to rave every chance I got for several years... in my opinion, the experience is so much better when done using a proper dosage of MDMA (moderation or moderate amount being key).
I grew up listening to EDM, and loved listening to it ever since I can remember. My first 15 months or so of raving were done either usually drunk (and smoking), and very rarely baked or completely sober (minus the nicotine). And, at the time, because I had never used MDMA or any street drug for that matter (other than weed), I honestly thought that alcohol + tobacco + EDM was as good as it gets. Boy was I so wrong.
Although I constantly yearned for another night of partying in the form of raving (or at least clubbing), I always found myself not enjoying the event if I was sober. Feelings of awkwardness, nervousness, and anxiety would quickly flood my mind, regardless of how hard I tried to have a good time. This is most likely due to past traumatic experiences which can still haunt me today. So, I almost always ended up having to get drunk or high on something to free myself of any dysphoric sensations.
When attending raves, as stated above, getting drunk was my M.O. in order to have a good time. But that euphoria I felt was short-lived because of the much longer length of your typical rave, which is an all-night event. So, I began experimenting with booze, weed, caffeine, tobacco, and even ephedrine, but it was a waste of time and money.
By chance, a friend of mine gave me an orange pill one day when we were getting ready to go to another rave. And from then on, MDMA became synonymous with raves for me, but it did much more than just aid me to have a good time until dawn while at future raves. MDMA has had an incredibly therapeutic effect for me. Suddenly, I was comfortable talking about my past with others in a way in which I never was able to while sober or intoxicated on another drug. And to date, MDMA remains the only drug which allows me to open up about some very uncomfortable incidents. It is why I sincerely believe it should be available as a Rx med to certain patients. But I digress...
Re. EDM & the rave scene: In my case - which may be drastically different from yours, as we all tend to experience the positive/neutral/negative effects of psychotropic drugs differently and/or uniquely - I find that, when it comes to other drugs...
- Weed is not an ideal choice for 140+bpm music, as instead of dancing, I start to laugh at others because I notice them doing some rather odd dance moves, such as the kid in the YT video who looks like he's trying in vain to start an imaginary lawnmower, as shown in the ~27 second video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk0NRJz1ZSI
- Shrooms are wonderful, and I think they are relatively harmless. But I find I'm way too distracted while tripping on such lovely tasting stuff to care about the chatter, melody and lawnmower man in the background. I've never hippyflipped before...
- LSD is way too intense for me, and I always get these massive panic attacks while tripping on it, regardless of the fact that I'm with people who care about me. Although, I have candyflipped once, and that experience really blew me away with respect to a different perspective on life. I don't think I would be able to put into words how I felt and what I experienced that night and morning back in the summer of 2004.
- Booze is okay for the first 2 or 3 hours, but afterwards, it's either *spew*, beer goggle mode, zzzzzz, or violence. Fuck that.
- Amps can be fun if you don't wind up biting off more than you can chew (amphetamine psychosis, stroke, panic attack, etc.), and if you're not snorting it every ~45 minutes like it's blow (having to find a private place to redose can really suck at a crowded rave). Meth is one amphetamine I'd rather not touch again, as I've exposed my noodle to way too much of it already.
- Coke is not very practical, I find, at not just raves, but any club venue. A short-lived high combined with too many variables means that your night could end up with you kicked out of the club before midnight, and, the rest of your low purity (but high cost) cocaine in the hands of the bouncer who caught you red-handed. Worst case scenario, you could be in handcuffs and charged with "unlawful" possession of a Schedule II/Class A substance. Fucking pigs.
- μ-opioid agonists are somewhat fickle when it comes to using them to socialize and/or dance, especially at a rave. I say this because it is possible that a fully synthetic opioid like methadone will probably knock you on your ass (literally), whereas, a semi-synthetic opioid like oxycodone may have a less sedating/more stimulating effect. Even a low dose of the weak opiate codeine may exert a shockingly potent effect on one raver (possibly because he has multiple copies of the CYP (450) 2D6 enzyme in his liver, thus, causing a significantly higher amount of the codeine to be metabolized into morphine) and almost no effect on another ("poor metabolizer" of 2D6 substrates). In any case, with respect to narcotic analgesics, I find I can have a great time socializing and dancing the night away at a club or rave if only if I'm using oxycodone. Anything else will make me content to nod off instead.
- Legal highs (in the form of research chemicals) might be a good option if you're concerned about being busted - assuming they're still legal in your part of the world to begin with. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure they're a good option if you're also concerned about your health. While I don't have an proof that RCs such as methylone (also known as bk-mdma and "Explosion") are toxic to vital organs, I must acknowledge the fact that they have not been around long enough for unbiased long-term effects of using such drugs (once, occasionally, and chronically) to be known.
- Ketamine (the thought of using) makes the peach fuzz on the lower-back of my neck stand up - and that's because I had a particularly nasty k-hole experience the last time I used. Never again.
- MDA is IME fantastic for raves. Even better, having access to pure MDA anytime I want is especially enticing. Too bad it's apparently so neurotoxic.
- MDEA was far too mellow for me to enjoy myself. And it's precisely why I think it sucks ass for raving, clubbing, or even dancing with myself on my DDR mat.
- MDMA - Lastly, after decades of raving on everything I wrote about above (and more), MDMA is, in my experience, easily the best party drug. Take the right dosage, and you'll be the epitome of a smooth operator. You might even surprise yourself with some amazing dance moves, some extremely smooth talking to the opposite sex, and some out-of-this-world oral sex and sexual intercourse - such an amazing sexual experience that sober sex might feel dull in comparison. And of course, chances are you'll swear you've never felt so happy with your life, so comfortable with yourself, so stress-free about your issues. It's no wonder that the therapeutic use of MDMA is so effective. The bad news in all this is that MDMA use might be neurotoxic (depending on the amount used, the user's body temperature, and so forth). Plus, although very rare, deaths from MDMA have occurred.
Please, I ask other BLers reading this who use (or are considering using) MDMA or ecstasy, that you do your body a potentially life-saving favor and invest in an ecstasy testing kit. AFAIK, they are not illegal, and the packaging is discreet. Whether you use MDMA once a year, or once a week, this applies to everyone of us who enjoy rolling. Think about how you would feel if you do decide to buy a kit to test what looks like a good-looking pill from a batch/press with a good reputation and the result comes back as PMMA. There will always be another party, another rave, another star-studded event, but, as the saying goes, YOLO. I apologize for bringing this up in a DitM article, but considering the amount of PMMA-related deaths in Ireland and other nations around the world, if I manage to save at least one life then I consider it a success. No matter what others may tell you, regardless how drug prohibitionists may treat you, know that countless people around the world consider your life to be priceless. We accept you as you are.
Cheers to all my etard sisters and brothers from other mothers - be safe you guys %)
