IMAGINARY “LOVE PILL”

OFF WITH THE MASK Ecstasy goes by many different street names, including: Cadillac, Adam, Pink pig, Mellow drug, Lollipop, Smile, Love pill, Ecsta, XTC, MDMA, Eve, Snowball, XE, California Sunrise

Ecstasy is often called “the love pill” because it heightens perceptions of color and sound and supposedly amplifies sensations when one touches or caresses another, particularly during sex.

But ecstasy is a hallucinogen, a drug that acts on the mind to cause people to see or feel things that are not really there. Hallucinogens mix up pictures in the mind and can throw a person into a scary or sad experience from the past, where he gets stuck without even realizing it.

The image of ecstasy as a “love pill” is one of many lies that are spread about the drug.

Ecstasy is emotionally damaging and users often suffer depression, confusion, severe anxiety, paranoia, psychotic episodes and other psychological problems.