Double-strength MDMA causing 'more mental health issues'

Stronger forms of MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, are responsible for a rise in the number of people seeking medical treatment for mental health issues related to drug use, experts say.

Long-term use of the stimulant, which is popular in the rave and festival scene, can lead to paranoia, impaired memory, anxiety and depression.

"The danger is much greater now than it was in the late 1990s," drugs expert Professor Philip Murphy told the BBC.

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"The risk now of young people using stronger ecstasy is higher in terms of being able to regulate emotion and your ability to think clearly."

Nearly 5,000 people were admitted to hospitals in England for mental or behavioural issues related to drug use in 2014/15, an increase of 215 per cent from ten years ago, the BBC says.

A study published in April by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found the amount of MDMA in the average pill had doubled in recent years.

While the average strength was between 50-80mg in the 1990s and 2000s, the current is around 125mg.

"Meanwhile," says Vice, "'super pills' are coming in from the rest of Europe – most often the Netherlands – with some containing an unthinkable 270-340 mg."

As well as the increasing potency of MDMA, British drug users are also endangering themselves with the quantity they consume. Dr Adam Winstock, who runs the Global Drugs Survey, told Vice. "The average ecstasy user in the UK uses more MDMA in a session than anywhere else in the world," he said.

An Office for National Statistics report released last September said 3,346 deaths attributed to drug poisoning were registered in the UK in 2014 – the highest since records began in 1993.