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WedNESÓAy, M arc I h 14, 2001
Raver: Ecstasy is what you feel
Continued frompoge 7______
the bunch who just go out and do other shit People have their own choices.
You decide whether or not you want to do this drug; it’s your choice to eat the
Feature
The CI ac I camas P rínt
Campus Poll
How do you feel about raves?
pill. It’s a drug. It*s a risk. The reason you’re taking a drug is to alter your sense
of bei ng, you ’ re state of m ind. Thai ’ s th e reason I do drugs, to get into a different
worl d, a different state of m ind, escape real ity, be i n a surreal surround ing. It’s
fun; it’s like an adventure for me, 1 ike going on a car ride or something.”
“Everyone has their own opinion, but mine is that
I don’t think, I don’t know, I’m kind of mixed.
You should go to a rave and have fun without
doing the drugs. That’s okay. If you can’t then
stay away. That’s what I say.”
Is it reaDy that much of an immediate risk? I know people who
ta ke la rge a mounts and nothin g seems to happen to them ?
“It’s not, It’s rare occasions. Sometimes people’s bodies don’t agree with the
drags. It’s not necessarily the drags; it could be the person and their ability to
handle it. I guarantee I could pick out any person at a party and I probably have
a higher tolerance than they do because I do it so much.”
The phone rings and a third guy, sitting on the couch, takes the call.
Marvin Noble
The caller is looking for E and the guy has two different varieties, Rolls Royce
and Blue note.
So it’s just like acid (LSD), they just name it after...
“Yeah, they just name it after the print or the press (that they stamp it with).
There’s hundreds of different kinds of ecstasy, like press tabs, you can buy
your own machine and press whatever the hell you want, throw a logo in there.”
Cut it and then press it again...
“Some people do that, that’s not good, a lot of people buy pills or MDMA
powder and they cut it with other things. Then they press pills and that’s when '
bad pills get out because people want to make easy money.”
Have you ever dealt E?
“I don’t see anything wrong with raves but you
really shouldn’t put yourself at risk by taking ec
stasy and stuff. I’ve heard of other people dying
from it You should be smarter and not do that”
“I used to sel I drugs. I don ’ t anymore just because. But, it’s easy money, lots of
easy money. If I would have worked this weekend, I could have made anywhere
from $500 to $1000.1 can make as much in two nights as some people do on
salary. Five hundred a night for two nights, all profit, and that’s how I went to
parties, 1 didn’t have to pay for awhile because it was all profit money from
Isaac Frederick
drugs.”
So what is the high like?
“It’s a totally euphoric effect. It triggers chemical reactions in the brain that
trigger a release of serotonin and brings out your emotions - joy, happiness,
you fee I a closeness to others, like you can talk to someone and tel 1 them your
life story, and you hardly know the person. It just makes you more open. That
was the original purpose of the drug when psychiatrists used it, so people
“I think they’re pretty dumb overall; I don’t really
see the point, It seems like just a regular ‘going into
aclubto dance’ kind of thing, but the main focus is
to do drugs. Seriously that’s it and I think that’s
pretty pathetic. Go dance but lay off the drugs.
I’ve never been to one.I’ve been outside of them
and people have come out.... they’re just Creepy,
they’re just weird out of their mind and I don’t like
them, so I’ll never go.”
opened up.”
So what does it fed like?
“It’sjust euphoric, imagine the time you’ve been most happy in your life, like the
time you graduated high school, or fell in love, or another really great feeling,
just multiplied by a hundred, like the greatest feeling in the world. Ecstasy is the
name of the drug, it’s the perfect name, ecstasy is really what you feel.”
Every time? Don’t you get bad stuff sometimes?
“There are bad pills going around; it’s not the drag, it’s when people take the
shit and cut it”
So what does it do to the music?
Chanty Hess
“Ecstasy heightens all of your senses; your sense of taste, touch, smell... you
know, ifyou get a back rub from someone, it’s like the best back rub you’ve ever
gotten before.”
Do you ever get negative feelings?
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“The day after, you kind of get a hangover, like you get when you do anything.”
When people are on it, do they ever get pissed off?
“The drugs mess with your serotonin. If you get angry, you’ll rage way hard.
Even though you’re chilled out, if someone tides you off, you’ll feel the rage.”
So it heigh tens everything, the good and the bad ?
“Yeah."
So do you remember your best time?
“There was this rave I went to out in New Orleans called Freakfest; Psychedelic
Pimp Daddy Land. It had thousands ofparty kids with DJ’s from all around the
world spinning there. They had four rooms of music, a party going on the
rooftop, a party going on in the basement; it was in a theater, so they had a huge
fucking show. They had two live crew, The Egyptian Lover, Rob Bass and DJ
Easy Rock, DJ Dan, Moby.”
So E isn’t something you can just do constantly and stay high?
“No, you have to take more and more because it depletes the serotonin from
your body; you need to give your body time to rebuild. It won2* do any good to
take the drag if you don’t have the chemical in your brain. Some people take a
“I don’t think they’re really a good thing and I’ve had
friends that have gone to them. I think that if they’re
controlled they’re OK, but there’s a lot more drug use
and tilings like that and younger kids getting into things.
The girl that ended up dying th is weekend was a friend
of my roommates’; they were all friends and went to
the same high school together. I think that if they’re
gonna have raves they should be controlled more and
there should be some sort of guidance or somebody
watching out.,. some kind of chaperoning of them.
There’s so much stuff that goes on - too many drugs
that are getting slopped in people’s drinks or too many,
people taking illegal drugs and dying or getting hurt or
raped.”
month break or a week break (in between E binges), just so they can build up
their serotonin.”
What do you think about all the talk going on about raves and E.
Desire Hoppel
“The thing about Melissa was about drugs, that and the party aren’t the same
thing. Raves don’t kill people, the drugs do. She took the drags; she knew what
she was in for. Anytime anyone goes out to a rave and does a drug, it’s their
choice. They’re not going out to a rave because it’s a place where you can gd
high, they’re going out there to mingle and have fun and meet people.”
“Well I just know of them, I don’t really know what
goes on. I mean I haven’t observed them. I don’t
like crowd activities that can get out of hand. I mean
I’m paranoid about crowd irrationality, so I tend to
stay away from that. I mean - I’ve been in some
political scenes where I justdon’t want to be part of
it. There’s potential for irrational behavior on amass
scale.”
Jim Gronsand
Photos by Gilbert Barrett Information compiled by Liesl Muggli and Gilbert Barrett