E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

13 Ecstasy, by Miranda Sawer, from Select, July 1992

A long article about the current club scene and Ecstasy users going on to more reliable drugs because of poor quality E. Sawer says that those who used to take multiple Es are now turning to amphetamine instead since the effect is much the same. She gives analyses of 7 samples which were mostly heavily adulterated. "Fantasy" Ecstasy contained 40% LSD, 30% amphetamine and 15% caffeine. "Passion" Ecstasy contained 60% sedative and 15% MDMA. "Californian Sunset" Ecstasy contained 20% amphetamine and 20% sedative. "Rhubarb and Custard" Ecstasy contained 50% barbiturate, 30% MDMA and 20% caffeine. 3 other samples contained no active ingredient at all. She quotes Andrew Bennett, of the Merseyside Drugs, Training and Information Centre, as saying that Merseyside has 20,000 serious abusers, i.e. people who take more than one E a week, and 30,000 who take one at weekends; and Mike Goodman of the London drug agency Release: "Ecstasy should not be a Class 1 drug in the same league as heroin with severe penalties. If you treat people like criminals, they are going to act like them"