Characteristics and social representation of ecstasy in Europe - Irefrea

GLOBAL SAMPLE ANSWERSApproximately only 7% of the global sample of each town believes that ecstasy doesnot produce any problems. Palma de Mallorca is the town who considers ecstasy moreproblematic (only 3,6% of the total sample consider that ecstasy do not produce problems).Consequently there is an apparently general feeling that ecstasy produces problems.“Unforeseeable effects” (between a 17% in Coimbra and a 45% in Modena), “it causesaddiction” (between a 9,5% in Utrecht and a 27% in Palma de Mallorca) and “Adulteration”(between a 30% in Coimbra and a 7% in Modena) are the causes mainly chosen.Percentages of the other causes are low, except for “Other causes” that in Utrechtreach 20,6% and in Modena 15,9%. “Illegality” gets very low percentages in Modena(1,4%), Palma de Mallorca (3,6%) and Utrecht (4%), while it is more valued as aproblem in Nice (12,9%) and in Coimbra (17%).ANSWERS ACCORDING TO ECSTASY USE (C AND NC)It is quite interesting to see how in every city the NC group answers follow a similarpattern quite different to the C group. Furthermore the non consumers believe, in a quitehigh proportion than ecstasy consumers, that the use of MDMA is problematic. The NCpunctuate lower in all the possibilities collected in the questionnaire, with the exceptionof “Produces addiction” and “Unforeseeable effects”. These two possibilities, andabove all the first one, show the great difference between both groups. For instance, inCoimbra only 1,4% of C believe ecstasy produces addiction, while among NC thepercentage reaches 26,3%. Even in Utrecht, where the lowest global percentage isfound, the difference between C (2,9%) and NC (15,9%) is striking. These factsprovides us interesting keys on the social representation of the ecstasy among youngpeople and the differences of this representation between consumers and nonconsumers,with important preventive implications. We will see along this study thatthese data are not isolated. They have the same orientation discovered in the section 8.3.where is studied the ecstasy social representation of C and NC.CAUSES TO TAKE ECSTASY (% on total answers)*COIMBRA MODENA NICE PALMA UTRECHTGlob NC C Glob NC C Glob NC C Glob NC C Glob NC CRelax 06,1 08,4 040, 02,4 02,7 02,1 08,1 07,0 09,6 030, 04,3 01,7 14,1 11,9 16,30Enjoy dancing 20,5 18,5 22,4 10,5 08,9 12,4 22,2 21,6 230, 130, 07,2 18,4 09,6 05,8 13,50Dance longer 11,7 170, 06,5 11,1 09,2 130, 09,3 09,2 09,6 12,6 15,5 10,1 140, 19,5 08,20Improves relationship with others 13,3 11,4 15,1 13,7 11,1 16,8 110, 110, 10,7 09,5 09,2 09,4 10,8 09,5 12,10Escape from reality 09,9 18,3 2,15 23,8 300, 16,8 20,8 24,5 160, 22,6 28,5 17,1 14,6 22,6 06,30Makes feel OK 17,3 10,4 23,9 140, 12,6 15,4 07,3 09,7 04,5 18,1 16,8 19,5 22,4 18,1 26,80Better sex 02,5 03,3 01,7 030, 01,9 04,3 03,6 02,5 04,8 03,5 03,1 03,7 02,6 03,1 02,01More creative 08,7 06,3 110, 05,3 05,6 05,2 03,6 02,9 04,5 04,4 03,4 05,5 02,6 02,1 03,02Stimulate senses 10,1 06,3 13,4 16,1 18,1 13,9 14,1 11,7 170, 13,3 12,1 14,7 09,5 07,4 11,70* ATTENTION!!. Each individual could choose three answers. The % are referred then to the total of given answers.65