E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

77 Lifeline, Ecstasy, and the world, by Mark Gilman

Mark Gilman, a researcher with Lifeline, a non-statutory drug agency in Manchester, gives the agency's official view of Ecstasy: that it is neither all good nor all bad.

The dangers were:

1. Not getting a real MDMA tablet.

2. Taking too much too often. This may cause damage, but it is also dangerous to take depressant drugs to 'turn off' the unwelcome anxiety states that accompany taking 'too much [Ecstasy] too often'.

3. Risk of heatstroke.

Young people using E have their eyes opened to the world of illegal drugs and lose respect for the law. Makes young people into criminals. In this sense, E is to the nineties what LSD was to the sixties; the difference is that now many other drugs are available too.

Gilman concludes: "I suspect the environmentalist/green movement will benefit from the boom in E just as the sixties counter culture grew alongside LSD use. I also suspect that we will begin to see the popularity drugs grow and grow - a new psychedelic dawn? What is clear is that a lot of people's world views have been changed by their Ecstasy experiences. Comparisons with the sixties are in order here."