Everyone loves Molly. Or do they?

Chris Dennehy, director of Step One Rehab in Highland, said people are “talking about Molly, when it’s the same old shit.” He said there’s nothing new under the sun, especially in the drug department. “It’s not like they came up with some new, clean formula.  It’s cleaned up from all the crap they were throwing in there. But the cleaner [MDMA] is, the more potent and damaging.”

Dennehy said though people do not specifically check into rehab with MDMA addictions, its name appears among the laundry list of other drugs. Most users seem to be in the 25-and-under crowd, said Dennehy. He said a lot of MDMA use seems to be in New Paltz where there is a strong nightlife, or music festivals, or environments with music, people, dancing and moving, such as house parties.

Dennehy said that in the ’80s, MDMA was used in marriage therapy and couples therapy, with the belief it “opened you up emotionally,” and connected the couple through touch.

Dennehy said the problem is that people mistakenly believe Mollies are somehow less dangerous than Ecstasy, and they’re not. Dennehy explained that with ongoing MDMA use, the brain will shut down its sites which process the important neurotransmitter serotonin, creating “holes in the brain.” That’s why frequent users seem to have a flat personality.

“It’s difficult to treat people with the flat personality,” said Dennehy. “The word ‘rehab’ implies bringing someone back, but some people aren’t going to get back there.”

Chewed-up lips and ‘Suicide Tuesday’

Ulster County District Attorney’s Office Senior Investigator William Weishaupt said that his office generally doesn’t see too much MDMA activity, reasoning that since the drug is mentally but not physically addictive that the compulsion for it does not roll over into street crime.  He said that MDMA and “X” tend to be regarded as a “social drug” and so it is most commonly seen in college environments and the younger generation.

“X might be found in a search, but not in the crime operations,” he said, explaining it might turn up in a bust for something else. “And when they get the X they have about two to three pills, so it’s a misdemeanor and stays in the lower courts.”

Weishaupt said he can easily spot a MDMA user because their “lips are chewed up” from the bruxism, or mouth chewing that occurs from regular use of the drug. “They bite their tongue, chew the inside of their mouths, tear up their lips and chew it up.”

“Suicide Tuesday” is the term coined in the ’90s to describe the endorphin depletion felt by Tuesday after a weekend of partying on the drug, leaving the person feeling emotionally flattened by midweek. Not all users report feeling that way, but Dennehy said that the drop off the cliff can be steep.

“Elizabeth” of Red Hook (name changed upon request) said she doesn’t even see a negative to Mollies. “I honestly am not sure if it has a down side, other than I wasn’t positive it was working because it wasn’t the crazy trip everyone makes it out to be,” she said. “Without the stimulant you just feel happy, like pure happy, not even manic — which I can get without drugs and have experienced.”

Elizabeth said the “perfect description” of the feelings from the drugs would be “a general sense of over-contentment.”

She added, “None of the insane senses of love or sensation they tell you about — just no anxiety, just rolling.” Elizabeth invoked the slang term used with Mollies — “rolling” — which describes the effortless energy and inner strength many report from MDMA. “Like rolling with the punches, rolling with the music — none of that mental ‘stuckness.’”