Figures involving the state of Ecstasy use have just been released. I have included an article below.

The Police are wasting their time trying to penalise the user… they are achieving absolutely nothing at all.

As an ecstasy user, do you think I am happy that usage has increased? Of course not. I simply don’t trust other people as much as I trust myself, and I fear for our next generation, people simply dont know enough about Ecstasy

The methods need to be looked at most urgently


By Carol Nader
February 18, 2004

Ecstasy Use

14 – to 19 – year old users

Every Day – 0%
Once a Week – 10.4%
Once a Month – 20.7%
Every Few Months – 22.8%
Once or Twice a Year – 46.1%

20 – to 29 – year old users

Every Day – 0.5%
Once a Week – 6.4%
Once a Month – 20.3%
Every few Months – 30.7%
Once or Twice a Year – 42.2%


Ecstasy use is growing among young Australians, with an increasingly diverse group taking the drug, a national study has revealed.

One in five people in their 20s had tried ecstasy, and one in 10 had used it the previous year, according to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. Among teenagers, 7 per cent had taken ecstasy.

The study also identified a worrying trend for a potentially lethal combination of ecstasy and alcohol - both dehydrators - taken together. Ecstacy was also sometimes taken with other drugs, such as cannabis.

The study, based on the Federal Government's 2001 national drug strategy household survey of 26,700 people, found those in their 20s who had used ecstasy recently had increased significantly from 1998, when it was 8.4 per cent.

Previous studies found that ecstasy users were typically middle-class, white, well educated or studying. Ecstasy is the third most popular illicit drug in Australia, behind cannabis and amphetamines. But its growing use in Australia appears to go against trends in Britain and the US, where it is reported to have declined in popularity.

Users of ecstasy are also less sophisticated and less underground than they were a few years ago. Simon Lenton, senior research fellow at Curtin University's National Drug Research Institute, said there had been a shift out of the rave scene and into the mainstream.

The study also showed that amphetamines are still popular with young people who are taking them to stay awake and study, to stay thin or to enhance their performance.