Young drug user says tough new measures won’t stop her taking MDMA

A defiant drug user says $400 on-the-spot fines and tougher licensing conditions won’t stop her from taking MDMA at music festivals because the drug makes her feel so good that it’s worth the risks.

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Kate first took her first dose of MDMA aged 19 at a nightclub early last year, and by year’s end was using up to four pills a day at some of the 13 music festivals she attended.

She’s back on the festival circuit this year, and nothing she’s seen in the past few months — not even five suspected overdose deaths at festivals — has made her rethink her plans to keep taking the drug.

“It really does add to the experience and the music because it releases serotonin, so the experience is always super-happy and wholesome and loving,” she said.

“Like, I can easily say that Splendour in the Grass festival was the best four days of my life.”

Splendour In The Grass at Byron. Picture: Derek Moore

As Sydney prepares for one of the biggest festival weekends of the year, The Daily Telegraph has gone inside the drug scene that has parents terrified and officials struggling to stop rampant use of illicit substances.

New measures including $400 on-the-spot fines and tougher licensing conditions will be in place for the three major events this Australia Day long weekend.

Kate, who asked that her real name not be printed because it could harm her future job prospects, is going to the Electric Gardens festival at Centennial Park tomorrow.

Centennial Park Electric Gardens festival.

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She said she would not be taking drugs this weekend — part of a strategy of spacing out her use in what she calls “responsible drug use”. But she would take them again in future.

Kate said she usually paid about $30 for each pill or capsule, and usually took them before entering a festival to avoid police sniffer dogs.

Finding suppliers is as simple as logging onto Facebook and asking: “You just message people until you find someone who knows someone.”

Kate (not pictured) says she has done her research on taking MDMA. Picture: iStock

Kate had educated herself about MDMA and spoke about how it releases neurotransmitters that produce feelings of wellbeing, and how a first time users can avoid an “anxiety-inducing situation”.

“Anyone who decides to take drugs without doing research is irresponsible,” she said.

She blamed the festival deaths on either substances other than MDMA in the pills or on people “mixing drugs that shouldn’t be mixed”.

Her statements are totally at odds with experts, who say MDMA itself can be deadly.

To her, the risks were acceptable and she said she would take drugs in the future.

“There’s risk in going outside and driving your car. There’s risk in everything we do,” she said.

I WOKE UP SCREAMING AND VIOLENTLY SHAKING

A first-time MDMA user has described her frightening experience after a friend gave her the drug of choice for millenials to try at home.

Grace, 21, said she only took the drug because “it was free” and she felt like she was in a safe environment with her then-boyfriend.

“I had always kind of wanted to try it. I’m not sure why. The main reason I tried it was (because it was) in that moment and because it was free from a friend who knew people that made the drug,” Grace said.

“At first I felt really energetic like the bunny on that battery commercial. My pupils went really big like my cat when he’s feeling frisky. But then I slept while I was still high and woke up in the night violently shaking.”

Grace said she began to feel like she was having a seizure and wanted to call the ambulance.

Grace said she began to feel like she was having a seizure and wanted to call the ambulance.

“My boyfriend insisted I was OK and got me a glass of water. I remember screaming really loud and having an all-over body experience that was not pleasant,” Grace said.

Grace said young revellers took drugs at festivals as means of escape and because they were so easy to obtain.

“They want to escape the mundane 9-5 every day that we are forced to assimilate to at such a young age. Drugs are escapism — especially for people struggling with mental illnesses,” Grace said.

But while she will not experiment again she warns that others may feel pressured into taking the drug.

“Be very careful and don’t do anything you are not comfortable with. At the very least ask the dealer where they got the drugs from,” Grace said. “After my experience I would never take MDMA or any type of pills or capsules again. It’s too risky.”

GET HAPPY, BE WORRIED

Drug users who take MDMA this weekend are being warned that the chemicals which create feelings of “happiness” are actually damaging their brains.

University of Technology Sydney forensic scientist John Lewis said the feeling of euphoria disguises a complex reaction within the body.

Dr Lewis said pill-testing kits were ineffective.

“The serotonin makes you feel good but your body has begun to lose its ability to control its temperature as it once did,” he said. “You don’t realise because you are having a good time and dancing in the heat of the festival. And that is when your body begins to cook.”

Dr Lewis said pill-testing kits were ineffective. “It is the MDMA that is killing these kids so even if you detect no impurities that pill is still potentially lethal,” he said.