nces and turned away from the drug. Many turned to LSD instead for the simple reason that the dose cannot be adulterated as it is microscopic (a thousand times smaller than a dose of MDMA) and is normally sold absorbed into a 'blotter', a tiny piece of paper too small to absorb active quantities of any other popular drug. However, people gradually turned back to Ecstasy use throughout the nineties and it became the most popular drug on the rave and club scene among young adults. But by 1994 the quality of Ecstasy improved and it became re-established as the dance drug of choice. MDMA is used by a wider variety of people than other illicit drugs, and has been credited with bringing together types of people who would not mix previously. All over Europe and north America Ecstasy is found in city dance clubs, and in Britain, it has spread out to people living in the country. Young people are the most receptive to Ecstasy. Among British schoolchildren, Ecstasy is the drug most frequently encountered apart from cannabis, with girls trying it earlier than boys. But Ecstasy has spread to some surprising quarters. Peter McDermott, editor of The International Journal on Drug Policy, describes how it hit a group in Liverpool: "I went down to the local pub, and some of the regular four-pints-a-night drinkers were there - drinking orange juice and giggling: they had discovered Ecstasy." When raving was new to Britain, ravers described it as one big happy family and would feel at home at any event where people were using E. But over the years, and particularly from 1993, the scene has divided up into distinct subgroups - each with their own style of music and clothes, their own music, and drugs of choice. At one extreme are some younger Northerners who wave white gloved hands and blow whistles, while at the other are the upwardly mobile professionals who have absorbed Ecstasy and rave-type parties into their lifestyle, dressing much as they...
