E is for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

55 Medicine Now, 9/3/92, BBC Radio 4

Alan Matthews, former editor of International Journal on Drug Policy, spoke on this radio programme. He said that Ecstasy allows people to examine areas that would normally result in pain or distress with a sense of detachment. It does all this without any loss of control or contact with reality. . . For these reasons it is used as an adjunct to psychotherapy, this gives us some insights into its enormous popularity at the moment . . . almost a spiritual experience. It drops the kind of emotional barriers that we all have built into our lives to cope with society and relationships and life in general. It seems to lower those barriers so that people feel more outgoing. In a sense it dissolves the individual into a wider group experience. If you've taken the drug in a club with a thousand other people who are also on the same level, it really does give a very powerful group experience.

Matthews also said that Ecstasy may cause minor psychological problems. Figures on deaths due to Ecstasy were never easy to unravel. Ecstasy may have been used in combination with other drugs; or there may be problems related to the setting - a very hot, overcrowded club with no drinking water may lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion or heatstroke. Taking Ecstasy in combination with another drug and being in such a club could lead to a serious situation. But taking Ecstasy is not the worst thing people can do. "The worst thing they could do actually is go out and drink alcohol and dance for eight hours; that would definitely kill them."