EFFECTS AND RISKS

MDMA is an entactogen, meaning that it can inspire powerful emotional experiences and potentially a strong connection with inner feelings, often without visual hallucinations. Hence, the effects of MDMA are quite different from other stimulants and psychedelics. While everyone responds to MDMA differently, people who take it report feelings of alertness, openness, love, connectedness, and euphoria. Yet, the festive mood that MDMA inspires is far from its only effect. MDMA can also cause heightened sensory perceptions, excitability, jaw clenching or other muscle tension, insomnia, talkativeness, or arousal. MDMA typically lasts between three and five hours. MDMA does not come without risks. If you take too much, or are dehydrated when you take it, the risks include hyperthermia (elevated body temperature, which can lead to heat stroke), heart failure (keep in mind, MDMA is an amphetamine), water poisoning (from drinking too much water), dehydration, or serotonin syndrome. If you are on an SSRI, reconsider whether you want to take MDMA, as the pharmaceutical may blunt its effects; do not take extra MDMA if this happens.