Tracking Ecstasy Trends in the United States with Data from Three National Drug Surveillance Systems

Anecdotal reports have suggested that the use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or “ecstasy”) is a prodigious problem across the United States. Unfortunately, no longitudinal evidence exists to support this contention. In the current study, data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), Monitoring the Future (MTF), and National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) are used to explore ecstasy use trends in the United States during the 1990s. While the use of ecstasy has increased over time, its prevalence is significantly less than other drugs of abuse. These findings suggest that anecdotal reports of an ecstasy epidemic is premature and that a less frenzied approach to ecstasy control and education may be warranted.