Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

UNITED KINGDOMAn article by Pearson (1991) described the notable uncertainty aroused by thisphenomenon in British society, at that time, and the feeling that new policies should beadopted. It endeavoured to determine up to what point there had been a connectionbetween raves and ecstasy use. In 1991, it was calculated that 20-30.000 people went toraves every weekend. But how many of them used drugs?. The answer was unknown.Some thought that rave parties were overwhelmed with drugs, others that there was noreason for so much alarm.The response of the authorities had been to make ecstasy illegal but such a measurehad not stopped its being used. So, what was to be done?. According to Pearson, incertain parts of the country the general feeling began to be favourable to the idea of theorganisers of the raves assuming the responsibility of providing information and adviceon drug-related problems.At the present time, the postures in respect of the adequate preventive measureswhich should be adopted are very divided. Deaths attributable to synthetic drug useraised the voice of alarm and this provoked a radicalisation of a prohibitionist posture,although the other postures also had their supporters. A newspaper article published inThe Guardian in 1996 made the following point, “When Leah Betts died after takingecstasy, there was widespread panic. Throughout Great Britain worried parents stillbelieve that they can ensure that their children do not come within the reach of drugs.They will fail, says Tom Hodgkinson, and the adolescents will tell them why”(Pool,1996). The same article discussed the effectiveness of the anti-drug campaigns,going on to question whether or not the State has the right to prohibit use. According tothe writer, demand reduction campaigns of the “Just Say No” type are campaigns basedon moral principles which, for this reason, do not reach young people, who create theirown moral codes.The same opinion is held by McDermott (1997) in “Ecstasy in the UK: recreationaldrug use and cultural change”. In this article, the writer relates how and why a campaignfor information on harm minimisation was undertaken on the basis of the values of therave subculture for people who were using ecstasy (the “Chill Out” Campaign), and theproblems it encountered from the tabloid press and the dominant ideology who, fromtheir point of view, found it charged with a moral falsehood: “One of the principleswhich seems to sustain the political and newspaper ideology is the notion that it isessentially bad to explore one’s own consciousness using artificial means. Thisassumption would appear to have its roots in Protestantism and in the modern requisitesof the discipline of time and work which are so necessary for industrial capitalism”.At the same time, the writer considers that including ecstasy and other danceenvironment drugs in the same list of drugs as heroin and cocaine may produce anopposite effect to the one desired: “Our research into this group has shown us that as aresult of the positive aspects of the initial experience with drugs, the MDMA may actas an initiation drug into the use of illegal drugs, and the lack of precise and openinformation on this drug may lead people to reject messages on all illegal drugs and to193