Nine reasons why ecstasy is not quite what it used to be.
This paper explores the recent resurgence in use of ecstasyMDMA in Europe and highlights keys areas of continuity and divergence between the ecstasy market of the 1990s and the current MDMA market. Based on a scoping study involving a targeted multi-source data collection exercise on MDMA, it highlights nine areas that have undergone some level of change, linked with both supply and demand for the drug. Factors discussed include innovation in production techniques changes in precursor chemical availability the role of online markets competition with other stimulants and new psychoactive substances the increased availability of high-strength MDMA and the shift from subcultural towards more mainstream use of the drug. The paper proposes that the MDMA on Europes contemporary market is in some respects a third generation product with a different consumer profile, with implications that responses developed at the time of the drugs earlier iteration, may be in need of a review and revamp.