‘What’s in Your Molly’ information session discusses drug use at music festivals

TBIT / Pixabay

A small group of students attended an information session on drug usage at music festivals Wednesday night, ahead of the popular three-day Ultra Music Festival this weekend.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) hosted the event, their first-ever “What’s in Your Molly” information panel, at the Shalala Student Center.

“I wanted to put on this event because Miami is big for electronic music and music festivals. With that comes a lot of people from around the world with different drugs from around the world,” said Colin Fitzgibbon, the Florida campus coordinator for SSDP.

SSDP focus on educating students about drugs without condemning them. This specific panel focused on the drug ecstasy, or molly, an illegal drug that is often popular at music festivals. The event focused on four topics: the description, dangers, testing and consumption of ecstasy.

SSDP member Nick Remijan described ecstasy as “one of the most popular recreational psychoactive [drugs], known for its empathogenic, euphoric and stimulant effects.”

Empathogen-entactogen drugs are considered to be those that create a communal feeling among groups of people.

SSDP presented the dangers of serotonin syndrome, which occurs with very high dosages of ecstasy. Serotonin syndrome results in agitation, diaphoresis (excess sweating), tachycardia (an unusually fast heart rate), hypertension and stability loss.

Testing ecstasy for MDMA (the main ingredient in ecstasy) was discussed in depth at the event. SSDP recommended places to acquire test kits and even showed videos of how to test ecstasy for the ingredient. Fitzgibbon even told students they could come to him and use his test kit.

“Twenty students came to me this week with their sample of molly and only two of them had a substance of MDMA,” Fitzgibbon said.

SSDP left students with the slogan: “Know your body, know your mind, test your substance and know your dose.”

Feature image courtesy Pixabay user TBIT.