Dancing on the Edge: Ecstasy and Raves
Photo Credited To Pexels
In a den of sound and movement, bodies pulse under strobing lights, and a kaleidoscope of colors blurs into a single, frenetic energy. The bass throbs through the floor as arms flail in the air, lost in the rhythm of the electronic soundscapes that encompass the techno music genre.
Forty-five minutes have passed since 23-year-old Ashraf ingested ‘Golden Panama,’ an ecstasy (MDMA) pill.
According to the U.S National Institute on Drug Abuse, Ecstasy is a man-made stimulant and hallucinogenic drug designed specifically to give users a heightened sense of happiness and energy.
Ashraf attends four raves per month and spends LE 8,000 on average monthly on these parties.
He puts gum in his mouth to easen his clenching jaw and wears his dark glasses to hide the fact that his eyes are rolling to the back of his head.
Ashraf’s senses are now amplified, yet the flashing lights no longer bother him; nothing does.
The music becomes like a hypnotist entrancing him, each note a different color driving him to dance along with no inhibitions. The surrounding strangers are now his friends and nothing outside this rave matters. According to him, he has reached “peak happiness.”
That is, until the rave is over and the effects of the drug wear off. He is now filled with an overwhelming feeling of emptiness and depression. This improves after a couple of days, but he is still left chasing the euphoric sensations, waiting for the next rave to recapture them.
“From an outsider’s perspective, this habit might seem absurd, but it’s actually the norm for many techno fans who go to raves all around the world,” said Ashraf.
According to the U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center, rave parties emerged in the late 1980s out of typical dance parties, but with newfound European techno music instead of disco music. European raves were initially secretive and underground, but gradually more people started to hear about it until it outgrew most dance clubs in popularity. By the early 1990s, raves became widespread in several countries.
During that time, rave parties became commercialized and club promoters focused on profits by discreetly marketing their raves as drug-friendly, specifically promoting the use of ecstasy. Now, in and outside of Egypt, they are large-scale, highly marketed events.
A few Egyptian rave-goers explained to The Caravan that today, raves have big screens showcasing animated visuals, and a multitude of strobe lights in a dark area. They are overpopulated, and they charge expensive fees for entry and beverages — including water — and Ecstasy use, which is also referred to as a party pill.
In Egypt, it is mainly used just as that: a party pill.
Every four years, authorities concerned with the incidence of drug abuse and addiction in Egypt conduct ‘A comprehensive national survey of the phenomenon of substance abuse and addiction’ and distribute it amongst all governorates to examine the extent of drug abuse, pinpoint the most prevalent substances, and find the percentage of usage amongst youth.
The most recent national survey from 2020, implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, showed no clear indication of prevalent Ecstasy use in Egypt.
Abdallah Gouda, a psychiatrist at the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Abuse in Egypt, explained that because Ecstasy is more prevalent amongst the upper class, it is not representative of the entire population.
“These parties are mostly widespread in coastal areas like the North Coast, which draws a higher class demographic and I’m aware of people who have spent a cumulative of LE 18,000 to attend four-day raves. This is why the [national] survey may have missed Ecstasy,” said Gouda.
A 20-year-old Egyptian who attends an average of three raves every month said that he was introduced to Ecstasy through his love for techno music and now he can’t go to a rave without taking the pill.
“It’s a party drug for a reason, so I only take it at raves and it helps keep me going because it gives you so much energy…taking it is honestly way better than going sober,” he said.
Conversely, a 21-year-old Egyptian who has gone to over 20 raves said that she doesn’t feel the need to take ecstasy every time she attends a rave. Whenever she does use it, she ensures it is in moderation to avoid a dependency on it.
“Most of the time when I go to raves, I am sober. I don’t even drink. I go simply because I enjoy the music. I don’t need ecstasy to enjoy it,” she added.
However, another Egyptian who attends multiple raves per month said he uses ecstasy once a month strictly during such parties because he enjoys the high level of serotonin that it releases.
In a 2010 study on the Egyptian rave and Ecstasy culture in the African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies, 19 out of 20 ravers said that there was a direct link between techno music and Ecstasy usage.
Omar Yehia, a psychiatry specialist, noted that there are serious risks associated with using Ecstasy, especially when using it repeatedly within three months, including Serotonin Syndrome, a condition that arises when there is increased levels of serotonin in the body. The condition is life-threatening and can cause damage to organs, even with medical treatment.
“They [Ecstasy users] use it to increase energy, but at the same time, it increases blood pressure and heart rate, and it affects the brain negatively because it disrupts the dopamine system in the brain, so it can cause psychosis,” said Yehia.
Gouda added that other side effects include developing major depressive disorder, loss of sex drive, paranoia, memory loss, aggression, migraines, heart failure, and death.
Ashraf attested to this and described feeling an overwhelming level of lethargy, lack of motivation, and deep sadness after every rave he attends.
“I had to stop going to raves all of last year after getting hospitalized for hyperthermia and extreme dehydration. At the rave, I stopped being able to breathe and felt intense heat all over my body…this, and the psychological effects I would feel after each rave, pushed me to take a break,” he added.
Despite health complications, Ashraf returned to the rave scene and continued using Ecstasy.
“It’s a very bad habit, but I truly feel like it’s a part of my life now… It dulls everything else afterwards and I think the depression I feel when it’s done pushes me to keep attending in order to regain that happiness, even if it’s temporary, and I realize how unhealthy that is,” he said.
Another reason for continued use is due to its normalization in rave environments and people feeling like they are missing out on the ecstasy experience.
A 19-year-old Egyptian raver expressed that if his friends were all on ecstasy and he was the only one sober, it would ruin his experience.
He added that the characteristics of rave parties, including the large visuals, the booming music, and the lights, facilitate ecstasy use because it is designed to increase sensations, which is also the goal of Ecstasy.
“Youth will get extremely engaged with the music and the visuals, to the point where some of them have told me that they feel as though the DJ in front of them is God,” said Gouda.
Yehia explained that consciously ignoring the risks and taking the pill due to the surrounding environment can still be a sign of an addiction.
“They [users] start to rationalize their use by claiming that it’s just because they’ve been going to more parties…slowly they start to notice that durations between the last time they took the drug become nearer, the dosages are increasing, they’re spending a lot of money,” said Yehia.
He added that ecstasy is too dangerous for users to justify their use of it by claiming they are trying to fit in or fearing missing out, and that such behaviors are still signs of an addiction to the entire experience of attending rave parties.
