I’ll pre-empt this by saying I have little to no knowledge in chemistry or biology. But I am a keen observer and have tried to find rational solutions to this issue. I hope some here can expand on or debunk what I have to say. This could also be a very
Eurocentric issue.
MDMA isn’t (anywhere near) as ‘magical’ any more.
Many people, including myself, have been arriving at this conclusion over the last few years. Mainly after the huge MDMA drought that happened around 2008,
especially over the last 3 years or so. The experience nowadays is very watered down from what is expected after taking MDMA.
Typical MDMA nowadays tends to differ from old in the following ways:
- Less Euphoria
- Less Energy
- Lacking desire to communicate freely
- Very mongy
- Lacking empathy
- Shorter Duration
- Unable to re-dose with reasonable results.
All of these of course are subjective, are effected by external stimuli, aren’t quantifiable or measurable in any way. This leads us down a path where it becomes incredibly hard to understand what is going on.
There’s two very common responses to people who complain about this:
"You’ve done it too much, you’ll never get the magic back."
"You’re not taking it in the right setting."
There are also arguments about nostalgia etc. but they all fundamentally look to say it’s down to the user, not the quality of current MDMA. Perhaps this is because it’s the only thing that makes sense. Because MDMA is MDMA, MDMA is a compound and it has always been simply MDMA.
My own empirical 'studies' 
I’ve been frequenting on drug forums online since the mid 2000s, I’ve conversed in ‘real life’ with plenty of MDMA users, I’ve introduced the drug to many different people from different age groups, at different times, in different places, in different settings. I have taken the drug on an off since early 2000s, never abusing it… sometimes with gaps of over a year. I (like to think) have a good gauge for how MDMA affects me and other people.
There were obviously hugely different experiences but there was an underlying baseline to the drug that, without abuse, has always been apparent.
There is an entire spectrum of users in terms of frequency of use, and that’s where I have the biggest issue with this argument. I’ve introduced friends to MDMA which they’ve done a
handful times with me, we would only ever do it on special occasions spaced out throughout several years. The experience was fantastic and in comparison to most ‘old school’ users they’ve barely touched the drug.
Over the last few years we’ve done it a few times a year and it’s mostly been the same lacklustre experience many moan about today. Have they done it too much? Are they burnt out? It doesn’t seem likely. You could argue the sample size is small, but when you read of experiences online on places like Bluelight, Reddit, Drugs-Forum you realise that not everyone complaining is some old school pill head with rose tinted goggles on. And if there’s some hypothetical cap where people get burnt out then why has it only appeared to rear its head in the last few years?
This is backed up on occasion when there’s an amazing pill or crystal released that resonates with everyone, just as they remembered it. Which brings me onto why I’m posting this.
Where did the MDMA go?
Why it is in a sea of shit, there are chemists out there who can still on occasion produce really good MDMA?
We get lab reports on most major pills, many of us reagent test our gear. It always checks out as MDMA, often very pure too. So why is it crap?
The only thing that has been brought to my attention is how the compound is synthesised. MDMA is typically synthesised from either Safrole Oil or PMK. However, sometime around 2012 many chemists started to make the switch to readily available analogue PMK Glycidate, which can in-turn be converted into PMK. It’s cheaper, easier to get, it makes sense if the end result is the same – racemic MDMA (ref.
http://www.mixmag.net/feature/ecstasy-in-2015)
Another trend that has coincided with the use of PMK Glycidate is the rise of pills in much higher doses, 200mg and upwards branded as Dutch ‘Superpills’. The existence of these is by no mistake, to mask how bad the product is. I’ve even seen vendors claim you need to ‘take them in halves to get the love back’. This is of course, rubbish.
Explain how MDMA is not MDMA
Whether you agree with me or not, indulge me in question. How
could a precursor alter an experience of a human being consuming a particular compound?
