THE OCTOBER 15, 2013
DANCING WITH
Molly Suproteem Sarkar Yuge Xiao
Photo Illustration: Noah Levine and Karolis Panavas/The SPOKE
F
or junior Paul Hyneman*, doing Molly is about more than just getting high. Hyneman said he regularly takes Molly, the street name for what drug dealers claim to be pure 3,4-methylenedioxy-Nmethylamphetamine (MDMA), when he goes to electronic concerts. “It makes you a lot happier, much more chipper and alive and more aware of what’s going on around you. Colors are a lot brighter—music is like getting a massage,” Hyneman said. “In my opinion, you have more fun because
your friends will be doing it too, you’ll be with a group of people. Everyone’s partying, having a good time, dancing.” According to Hyneman, MDMA, the main ingredient in Ecstasy, used by adolescents during concerts, is easy to obtain in powdered form. However, according to Carol Krause of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the term “Molly,” short for molecular MDMA, is a misnomer: several of the harmful contaminants found in Ecstasy, amine, can also be found in Molly.
“Those who purchase what they think is pure MDMA as ‘Molly’ may actually be exposing themselves to the same risks [posed by drugs contaminating Ecstasy],” Krause said. “Hundreds of ‘Molly’ capsules tested in two South Florida crime labs in 2012, for example, contained methylone, a dangerous stimulant commonly found in bath salts.” Junior Walter Thompson* attended an electronic music concert, or rave, that featured artists Sebastian Ingrosso and Dirty South at The Fes-
*To protect the privacy of the students interviewed, their names have been changed.
tival Pier at Penns Landing on Sept. 28. He said that he and several other Conestoga students attended the rave and that he noticed people who passed out after overdosing. “It’s just going to happen,” Thompson said. “It’s like bringing a kid to a park and telling them not to go play on the playground. People just do drugs at concerts to have a better time. I actually feel like people do it to have more fun, to be more energetic.”
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