Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

1. INTRODUCTION1.1. DESIGNER DRUGS, SYNTHETIC DRUGS AND ECSTASYDEFINITIONSDesigner drugs or synthetic drugs are imprecise terms which cover a diverse andchanging group of substances whose use began to spread through Europe, during theeighties in particular and taken up to now, mainly, as a recreational drug. Although thereare certain differences between both designations for some people, in practice their useis rather indistinct. The term ‘designer drug’ originally described a chemical compoundsimilar in structure and effect to another drug of abuse but differing slightly in structure,produced in clandestine laboratories to mimic the effects of controlled drugs. The nameis attributed to a pharmacist in the University of California who coined it to refer todrugs introduced on the market to flout the law. The denomination arose from thenecessity of ’designing’ or ‘synthesising’ new drugs by introducing small chemicalmodifications of known drugs in order to avoid legal control -at least for a time- by notbeing registered and, therefore, banned. The North American Drug EnforcementAdministration (DEA) refers to such products as ‘Controlled Substances Analogs’, amore neutral term which it uses to avoid unnecessary publicity for these drugs.The meaning of ‘designer drugs’ or ‘synthetic drugs’ has continued to evolve and,nowadays, no longer corresponds to the need to find a legal subterfuge. They are termswhich are becoming wider and wider which, on occasions, even include knownpharmaceuticals which have crossed over to the illegal market. At other times, they areold drugs which reappear on the market and it is less common for such terms to describedrugs which have undergone some chemical change. Far from being a matter ofchemicals, we are facing a sociological reality, a new way of using drugs, generally inthe form of tablets or capsules. Within this new reality is the idea of a use that differsfrom that of the traditional drugs, above all as far as heroin is concerned, where noveltyis important, as is its convenience, easy production and use, its few secondary effects,reasonable price, recreational aspects... All this forms part of the social representationwhich has been created around these drugs, although in practice we know that they arenot free from dangers and that their use, although basically a recreational one at thepresent time, has many connections with other types of drugs. Nor are they exempt froma compulsive or addictive use. This type of drug has gone from being totally unknown,or one where use was restricted to very minority groups, to enjoying an unprecedented13