Next week it’s time for Amsterdam Dance Event again. A week entirely devoted to electronic music. The term ‘party drugs’ is inextricably linked to the rise of this musical movement. Mainly synthetic drugs have become an integral part of the dance floor, but what exactly are they?
Most drugs are plant-based: the base of the narcotic occurs naturally in nature. Think of alcohol, opium, nicotine, cannabis and caffeine. Synthetic drugs, on the other hand, are molecular compounds created in the lab. Many of these ‘designed’ substances fall under the Dutch Opium Act. That means they are banned due to health risks. The use of drugs is therefore not without risks.
XTC / MDMA
MDMA is not a new drug, but it is more than a hundred years old. The substance was first formulated in 1912. MDMA had a therapeutic use for a time in the 1970s. Psychiatrists used the drug, which made patients more open and less inhibited emotionally. From 1980, Ecstasy was increasingly sold on the street. The drug ended up in circles of hippies, yuppies and students. When house and techno emerged as new music genres, XTC proved to be the perfect drug for night-long dance marathons.
Ecstasy, MDMA, ecstasy, E, X or M is the most commonly used hard drug in the Netherlands. Almost all Ecstasy pills contain MDMA. There is also a powder and crystal form of Ecstasy. This is often referred to as MDMA powder, crystals or M for short. The active ingredient is in principle always the same: MDMA. And the chemical structure of MDMA resembles both mescaline and methamphetamine. The central nervous system stimulant and psychedelic effects are caused by the neurotransmitter serotonin and to a lesser extent by dopamine.
Effects:
- Mentally:
- Blissful feeling or warm glow flowing through the body
- Energetic, clear, fit and alert
- Euphoria, cheerful and cheerful
- Perception and sounds become more intense
- Warm, open, in love, strong need for contact, talking, intimacy and confidentiality
- At high doses possible confusion, anxiety and hallucinations
- Physically:
- Increase in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature
- Sometimes nausea
- Decreased appetite
- Enlargement pupils
- Tense muscles
- Stiff or tense jaws, gritted teeth
- Dry mouth and thirsty feeling
- Difficulty urinating
- Increase in stamina
- Uncommon sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness
Risks:
- Overheating (hyperthermia)
- Water intoxication (hyponatraemia)
- Liver damage
- Serotoninesyndroom
- Damage to the teeth
- Bad trip anxiety attack
- Psychological complaints
2C-B
2C-B was discovered in 1974 by Alexander Shulgin, a scientist interested in psychoactive substances. Like Ecstasy, this drug is primarily used in psychiatry. In the 1990s, the use shifted to the recreational sphere. Until 1997, the drug is for sale at smart shops under the name Nexus.
2C-B is a drug that is often sold as a pill, usually slightly smaller than an XTC pill. The effect of 2C-B depends on the dose. At high doses it is a tripping agent, at lower doses the effect is more like that of ecstasy. A low dose (5 to 10 milligrams for adult, mature people) gives a slightly euphoric and stimulating effect. At higher doses from 10 to 12 milligrams you will hallucinate. Colors become more intense, objects distort and faces change. Dosages above 30 milligrams are strong.
Effects:
- Sense of connection and openness
- Euphoria
- Lachkick
- Energy
- Change in sensory perception
- See: colors are more intense, shapes can change, walls seem to breathe, faces can look different, tracers (perceiving multiple versions of a shape, such as a hand when it moves),
- Hearing: music experience is more intense
- Synesthesia: Senses seem to be intertwined. You can see sounds and taste colors.
Risks:
- Kaakklem
- Cardiovascular problems
- Overheating
- Insult (epilepsie)
- Delirium
- Confusion
Ketamine
K, Ket, Keta, Special K, vitamin K or ketamine was invented around 1962 and replaced PCP as a synthetic anesthetic in the medical world from the 1970s. In addition to the narcotic, Keta also has a hallucinogenic effect. Today it is used less and less in the medical world and more and more at festivals and raves. The remedy is very popular at home afters.
The medical variant of ketamine is liquid, but for recreational use it is almost always powder (and sometimes a pill). At a low dose, it has a bit of a dreamy effect. The higher the dose, the stronger the narcotic, dissociative and hallucinogenic effects. This can eventually lead to a k-hole. A k-hole is compared to a near-death experience or an out-of-body experience where higher entities sometimes visit. Because you can no longer move at a k-hole, this can be a frightening experience.
Effects:
- At low dose:
- dreamy, floaty state
- disoriented: you have less control over your coordination
- At high doses:
- Feeling that your hands no longer belong to your body
- The Idea as if your body is made of wood, rubber or plastic
- Feeling that body parts are much larger or smaller than they actually are
- Not knowing where your arms or legs are anymore
- The feeling of ‘dissolving’ in the environment
- No longer feeling whether a body part is yours or someone else’s
- The idea that your mind is in a completely different dimension than your body
- The idea of stepping out of your body (‘out-of-body experience’)
- Visual hallucinations (especially with eyes closed)
- A changed idea of the time
Risks:
- Due to impaired coordination and numbing effect, you can be seriously hurt without feeling any pain
- Nausea and vomiting; you can choke on your own vomit if you can no longer roll over due to the muscle relaxant effect
- Bad trip
- Memory disorders
- Bladder and kidney problems that can be permanent
- When combined with alcohol or other drugs, such as GHB: unconsciousness, impaired breathing and death
- Habituation and addiction
GHB
GHB was isolated from mammalian tissues in 1960 by the French researcher Laborit. He was looking for a substance that has a similar effect to the neurotransmitter GABA, which causes the brain to function more slowly. After GHB was isolated, it could also be chemically counterfeited. That first happened in 1961.
GHB appears on the market as a sleeping aid, as an anesthetic and as a medicine against narcolepsy. GHB is still in use for narcolepsy. In the 1990s, GHB was sold at smart shops as ‘liquid ecstasy’, but the drug has nothing to do with MDMA. Despite a ban on sale in 1996, the drug is gaining popularity in the nightlife scene.
Effects:
- Mentally:
- blissful feeling, happy, relaxed
- disappearance of fears and inhibitions
- chatty
- sexually aroused
- confusion
- temporary memory problems
- Physically:
- Sensitive to touch
- Dizzy
- Headache
- Nauseous, vomiting
- Vibrate
- Weak feeling in the muscles
- Being overcome by an uncontrollable sleep
Risk’:
- Short term:
- forgetfulness
- nausea
- aggressive behavior
- convulsions
- speech problems
- unpleasant experience (no longer keeping an eye on your limits and doing things that you later regret)
- become unconscious or pass out
- Long-term:
- addiction
- possible physical harm
- damage from regularly going out on GHB
4FA of 4-FMP
The aforementioned synthetic drugs have been with us for a long time. 4-FA or 4FMP is still fairly new. It has only been on the Dutch market for a short time. In the period from 2007 to 2009 it was mainly sold as speed or MDMA. This was because there was a shortage of raw materials for these drugs at the time. Therefore, 4-FA was used as an excipient, it was added to the other substances. However, since 2010, it has been increasingly sold and used as a standalone drug. The drug has a similar effect to Ecstasy.
Effects:
- Mentally:
- Energetic, clear, fit and alert
- Slight euphoria, cheerful and cheerful
- Strong sense of belonging
- Intense experience of touch and music
- Strong need for contact, talking and intimacy
- At high doses possible confusion and anxiety
- Physically:
- Increase in heart rate/blood pressure and body temperature
- Sometimes nausea
- Decreased appetite
- Enlargement pupils
- Tense muscles
- Stiff/tight jaws, gritted teeth
- Dry mouth/thirsty feeling
- Difficulty urinating
- Increased stamina that allows you to dance for hours
- Uncommon sweating, nausea, vomiting, dizziness
- (Extreme) headache
- Difficulty sleeping
Risks:
- severe headache
- Overheating (hyperthermia)
- Cardiac arrhythmias, breathing problems and increased blood pressure
- Damage to the teeth
- Bad trip and psychological complaints
Have your drugs tested (anonymously)
Party drugs can cause both physical and mental addiction. The user gets the feeling not to be tired or to be hungry or thirsty. The body does not indicate this. As a result, one becomes exhausted in the long run. Also, overdose and the use of pills containing harmful substances can cause damage to the body.
Are you planning to use drugs on ADE? Then have your drugs tested at one of the locations below:
- GGD (Valckenierstraat 4 – Weesperplein): Monday to Friday 17.30-20.30, Saturday 13.30-16.30.
- Jellinek (J. Obrechtstraat 92 – Museumplein): Monday to Friday from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM, closed on Saturdays.
Don’t miss out on Amsterdam Dance Event 2022
This year the Amsterdam Dance Event will take place from 19 to 23 October. You can enjoy yourself at parties such as Awakenings, DGTL, Audio Obscura and Into The Woods. The Gashouder, the NDSM wharf and the Johan Cruyff ArenA, among others, are being transformed into the fattest clubs in the world. In addition, the day program is also packed with interesting workshops and conferences.
Festileaks reports extensively on Amsterdam Dance Event 2022. Throughout the week we will warm you up for the festival in the capital with background stories and previews. We also share the impressions on our Instagram channel, among others.
Amsterdam Dance Event 2022
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Datum
October 19-23, 2022