Molly Drug And The Electric Zoo Deaths: What You Need To Know

There are a lot of party drugs out, there but the on that is currently getting the most attention, even from pop icons, is called Molly. By no means is Molly new or a different combination of any substances. Instead it is simply a pure form of MDMA (Ecstasy.)

Molly has been making headlines as a result of well known artists mentioning the drug, but most recently things took a different turn as two people died during the Electric Zoo music festival. The deaths prompted event organizers to close the festival for the last scheduled day.

Despite the low potential for something to go wrong and for people to end up dying from Molly, Olivia Rotondo, 20, and Jeffrey Russ, 23, died as a result of a Molly overdose.

MDMA has been around for decades and has always been popular, but the “pure” element of Molly has made people come under the assumption that it is almost completely safe. While Molly should in theory be safer, it can sometimes be just as dangerous as other party drugs since it tends to be cut (mixed) with other substances, particularly amphetamines.

Before dying from the overdose, Rotondo reportedly told EMS workers that she had taken six hits of the drug. This dose is far higher than what most people would ever take in a sitting and the fact that there may have been other drugs mixed in with the Molly could have been a factor in her death.

Pure MDMA is still something that can cause harm in high doses — or even because of where you are doing it–but Molly is almost never “pure.” Professor Charles Gobb with the UCLA told ABC:

Molly is no different than ecstasy; it’s just some clever marketers figuring they needed a new name to move their product. There’s no reason to suspect that molly will not be prone to the same degree of drug substitution as ecstasy.

In the end, is Molly “safer” than other popular party drugs? Yes. Should you ever do it? No.

The potential that the supposedly “pure” Molly that you are getting is actually pure is very low, and even if it is, the drug can have some nasty side effects.

However, politicians and law enforcement officers should be careful when using the Electric Zoo deaths as a reason to campaign against Molly simply because the doses seen there are far higher than what most people will ever use. The unfortunate deaths at the Electric Zoo festival are not much different than the thousands of people that get alcohol poisoning each year, but few people ever campaign against alcohol.

What do you think? Should people campaign against the Molly drug as a result of the Electric Zoo deaths, or should people just be careful and use things in moderation?