112

The capsules appear so enticing, filled with the promise of

By FRANK OWEN with lera gavin

113
 crowd, molly is simply ecstasy re-
branded with a cute girl’s name, the
better to sell it to a new generation.
Contrary to what many users believe,
molly is not a new drug (night crawlers
were snorting powdered MDMA as far
back as the early 1980s), and the form
the drug takes (pills, powder, capsules)
has little bearing on its purity, as I was
about to find out.
Not that I intended to consume the
product. The last time I took what I
was told was pure MDMA, the active
ingredient in molly, it turned out to be
methamphetamine, and I spent an un-
comfortable New Year’s Eve grinding
my teeth and twitching like Captain
Jack Sparrow. What I intended to do 1
was gather samples and test them with
an over-the-counter drug-­screening
kit to see what was really being sold as
molly in the pills-and-powder circus
that is Miami Beach’s club scene.
The chance to analyze the unknown
substance came a few hours later, at
an afterparty at a friend’s apartment
in a high-rise on Washington Avenue.
“Hey, guys, wanna see something
cool?” said my wife, Lera. “I got
­Fernando’s molly and I’m going
to test it right now to see what’s
in it. He said this shit is fire.”
Lera pulled out a silver
packet containing a multidrug
screening test, a plastic panel
the size of a credit card that is
molly test number one commonly used to test urine
samples for illegal chemicals
The mystery powder in the clear cap- but has been repurposed by drug
sule cost $10, a dead giveaway it wasn’t connoisseurs to test the contents
the substance the dope peddler was of molly. The best way to gauge
claiming it was. Nobody sells the real what’s in a drug, of course, is to
deal for that price. Examining it under mail it to a professional laboratory
the light, one could see yellowish rice- for a gas chromatography/mass spec-
shaped crystals shifting around inside trometry analysis and then wait for
the half-filled capsule. It didn’t even the results. But some of the chemicals
look like the genuine ­article. turning up in molly these days are so 2
“How many do you want?” asked exotic, even the most state-of-the-art
Fernando, a stubby drug dealer with facility can fail to detect all of them. At
chubby hamster cheeks and a neatly least with a portable screening kit you
trimmed goatee. can find out straightaway if the drug
“Just one. Are you sure this is real?” you’ve bought contains any MDMA
“Don’t worry, this shit is fire,” he said. (though not the amount or its purity).
On a drug-fogged night in late You can also test for other common
­August, I found myself surrounded drugs such as cocaine, methamphet-
by a young crowd at a party in South amine and oxycodone.
Beach. While New Order’s “Blue Lera walked into the kitchen, where
Monday” played in the background, I she opened the molly capsule and
was trying to ignore the loud conver- poured the crystals onto a plate. We
sation going on around me so I could could tell by its odor, like that of
focus on my mission: the hunt for the contaminated water, that this wasn’t
magic molecule called molly—the sup- MDMA. Pure molly is generally odor-
posedly purer, allegedly more potent less or smells of aniseed, the result
crystalline form of a drug that used of the sassafras oil used to make the
to be called ecstasy (or ­MDMA). Just product. Judging by the distinctive
as methamphetamine was nicknamed stench emanating from the powder, it
114 “tina” to appeal to a more upmarket was most likely some form of synthetic 3
 What was
5
in that
capsule was
shocking.
It tested
positive for
cocaine, meth,
MDMA and
6
some form
cathinone, the family of chemicals that
of opiate.
includes mephedrone and methylone, and they didn’t have any effect on us.
which are better known to the general It’s not like it used to be back in the day.
public as bath salts. I can’t believe he’s selling us this shit.”
Lera put about half the contents of
the capsule into a coffee cup, poured •
in water and waited for the crystals to Over the past two years molly has be-
dissolve as her friends looked over her come the drug of choice for a new gen-
shoulder. She then tore open the silver eration. Why molly now? Why all the
package and placed the drug-testing kit fuss about a drug that under different
in the solution. About a minute later, names has been a dance club staple for
two pink lines appeared on the cocaine three decades?
section of the panel, then two lines for There’s certainly no shortage of ref-
marijuana and two lines for opiates. It erences to the drug on the electronic
was negative for all three. A single un- dance music scene. One of the most
mistakable line started to appear under popular dance hits of the past year
methamphetamine, followed by another is Miami-based DJ Cedric Gervais’s
distinct line under MDMA. ­“Molly,” which features the robotic
“That’s what I thought,” said L ­ era. voice of a woman blankly intoning,
“You see, it came out positive for “Hi, I am looking for Molly. Do you
methamphetamine and MDMA, which know where I can find Molly? She
is what bath salts will come out as on makes my life happier. More exciting.
(1) Studio 54 in New York,
these tests.” She makes me want to dance.” From
where chemists known as We concluded Kanye West to Trinidad James to Rick
the Boston Group tested the the substance Ross, molly is portrayed as the happen-
effects of MDMA in the 1980s. was probably ing drug for the hip-hop crowd. Ross
(2) The drug molly, otherwise mostly synthetic had to apologize for his seeming advo-
known as MDMA, in capsule cathinones. cacy of molly as a date-rape drug in the
and powder form. (3) Pop Dimitri, who song “U.O.E.N.O”: “Put molly all in
sensation Miley Cyrus and had deejayed the her champagne, she ain’t even know
(4) hip-hop star Rick Ross party a few hours it. / I took her home and I enjoyed that,
are among the many artists
whose lyrics discuss the effects
earlier, offered she ain’t even know it.” (The contro-
of molly. (5) Jeffrey Russ, 23, his verdict: “We versy surrounding the lyric was enough
and (6) Olivia Rotondo, 20, took a bunch of for Reebok to cancel an endorsement
both died at the annual Electric ­Fernando’s mol- deal worth millions with the hip-hop
4 Zoo festival in New York. lies the other day ­impresario.) (continued on page 147) 115
CHASING MOLLY (continued from page 115)
Or maybe there’s something more pro-
found underpinning this molly craze,
something to do with the drug’s much
cocaine. Then they reported back to the
Boston Group about the positive effects the
drug was having on the dance floor. One of
Molly has become so mainstream that vaunted ability to break down social barri- those distributors was David. Sitting in his
even a pop tart like Miley Cyrus feels com- ers when taken in communal settings. Miami Beach apartment today, David is in
fortable singing about “dancing with mol- “This generation has grown up with crys- his early 70s and still deejays, though he
ly” on her song “We Can’t Stop,” though tal meth as a chemical bête noire, whereas makes his real living running a small real
the drug references were bleeped out dur- MDMA is seen as basically benign,” says estate company. Age hasn’t dulled his vivid
ing her performance at the Video Music Mike Power, author of Drugs 2.0, a compel- memories of the life-changing effects the
Awards. And what would a pop trend be ling account of how the internet has revolu- first wave of recreational ecstasy use had
without a guest appearance by the queen tionized the global drug trade. “Molly has on clubgoers at the time.
of pop? Madonna jumped on the molly become hugely popular right now because “What happened was that these profes-
bandwagon last year when she named her it is in many ways the perfect drug for the sors up in Boston, who had been using it for
12th studio album MDNA and asked the times. We’ve never been so networked yet therapy for a long time, decided it would be
crowd at 2012’s Ultra Music Festival in so disconnected. The overwhelming rush a good idea for the world if ­MDMA became
Miami, “How many people in this crowd of an MDMA experience is as close as many a social drug instead of cocaine and heroin
have seen molly?” In the wake of the per- of us will ever come to connecting with an- and all the other bad drugs,” remembers
formance, progressive house music DJ other person.” David. “It was a relatively small circle of
­Deadmau5 publicly criticized the aging people on the club scene who were doing
diva for glamorizing drug use. • ecstasy back then, mainly artistic types. A
The molly phenomenon is also a market- The story of MDMA began unremarkably lot of people wouldn’t try it because they
ing gimmick—drug dealers rebranding a in 1912 when a little-known German chem- were scared of it. They didn’t want to let
product that had gotten a bad reputation ist named Anton Köllisch first synthesized their walls down, especially the straight
because it was so heavily cut with other the substance while working to produce a boys, because the rumor was out that tak-
substances. According to the hype, molly is blood-clotting agent for the pharmaceutical ing ecstasy would turn you gay.”
for the cool kids, the discerning consum- giant Merck. He was trying to get around a But those straight boys who tried the
ers who don’t mind paying a premium to patent for a similar drug owned by Merck’s Boston Group’s product in the 1980s—­
ensure quality, whereas ecstasy pills are for archrival, Bayer, when he stumbled upon myself included—were amazed at the
“e-tards,” the dance-floor proletariat who MDMA, which was initially called methyl- drug’s wondrous therapy. MDMA works
turned MDMA from a hippie tool for in- safrylamin. Four years later, he went to his by flooding the brain with serotonin
ner exploration into another excuse to get grave with no idea that what he had discov- (which modulates mood and intensifies
trashed on a Saturday night. ered would affect generations of beat-crazy perception) and dopa­mine (which speeds
Fancying themselves smart drug users kids to come. The formula for MDMA, a up metabolism and creates exhilaration),
who pride themselves on knowing where precursor to a potentially lifesaving medi- a combination that lights up the senses
to get the real stuff, many molly consum- cine that never got made, lay buried in the like a Christmas tree. It wasn’t long before
ers seem blissfully unaware that drug deal- archives at Merck’s Darmstadt headquar- the Boston Group began hearing from
ers routinely substitute synthetic cathi- ters for decades, until the U.S. military ­users who told them ecstasy had saved
nones (bath salts) for MDMA, not only briefly experimented with MDMA in the their lives. “They saw that it was ­really
because they’re easier to procure but also 1950s as a possible truth s­ erum. great for people and relationships,” says
because they’re a lot cheaper. A gram of The first time MDMA turned up on law David. “After a while, people were telling
­mephedrone or methylone, both cathi- enforcement’s radar was in 1970, when them, ‘Thank you so much, because I was
nones, wholesales for the equivalent of Chicago police confiscated a batch of pills doing all this cocaine and I was getting
about $3 or $4 and can be bought online that contained the then unknown chemi- addicted. Once the ecstasy came along, I
from factories in China that churn it out by cal. By 1976 the chemist Alexander Shul- could do that and feel great and I wasn’t
the metric ton. A gram of pure molly can gin had resynthesized the drug and dosed craving the next day.’ ”
retail for as much as $120, which reflects himself at the suggestion of a former stu- I stopped doing MDMA in 1990 around
not just the demand for this sought-after dent who had tipped him off about its the same time the Boston Group closed
chemical but also the difficulty of procur- potential psychoactive effect on humans. shop. “Somebody drove out the chemists
ing the precursor ingredients—most com- Shulgin introduced MDMA to a psycholo- making ecstasy,” says David. “They told
monly safrole and PMK—that manufactur- gist friend named Leo Zeff, who in turn me that some very dangerous people were
ers need to make the drug. introduced it to other psychologists, who threatening them. They had two days to
According to the Miami Police Depart- in the next few years prescribed about half get out of the country. They didn’t use the
ment, methylone and mephedrone, along a million doses. They called it adam, as in word mafia, but that’s the impression I got.
with another synthetic cathinone called being “reborn anew,” because that’s how They packed their bags and all moved to
4-MEC, account for the vast bulk of the it made patients feel. Psychologists and Belgium.” Not coincidently, over the next
molly seized by narcotics cops in the area. A psychotherapists reported remarkable im- decade Belgium became a major center for
DEA spokesperson told me that in the first provements in the emotional well-being of ecstasy production.
six months of 2013, the DEA’s Miami field of- their patients who had taken the drug. It A number of factors had informed my
fice seized 106 consignments of molly, which did for them in a few hours what a year’s decision to quit MDMA. First was the en-
contained 43 different substances, 19 of worth of conventional therapy couldn’t. croachment of thuggish drug dealers with
them so obscure even government chemists Some mental health professionals claimed organized-crime connections who weren’t
couldn’t identify them. So much for purity. MDMA was particularly useful for couples shy about robbing and kidnapping ­rival
“Molly is absolutely a marketing gim- going through marital problems. dealers to secure their market share. I
mick,” says Missi Wooldridge, a spokes- The first mass-scale production of dubbed these people “ecstasy bandits”
person for DanceSafe, the harm-reduction ­MDMA for recreational use in the United when I wrote about them for Details maga-
organization that tries to educate young States came courtesy of the so-called Bos- zine in 1998. A thug who controlled the
consumers about the risks of disco poly- ton Group, a small contingent of chemists ecstasy trade at one of New York’s biggest
pharmacy. “I think the average molly con- who were tenured professors at MIT and nightclubs in the 1990s is now a respectable
sumer has no idea what they’re putting Harvard and who were colleagues of LSD businessman who enjoys a round of golf at
into their bodies. The drug scene is so satu- guru Timothy Leary. The Boston Group his local country club. Today he is genu-
rated with research chemicals that people decided they wanted to conduct a social inely regretful about his past behavior.
not only cut their pills and powders with experiment. First at Studio 54, then later He recently told me, “When I started
them but will also often sell straight-up at the legendary Paradise Garage, hand- dealing, it was hard pills. I haven’t done
research chemicals as molly. People think picked distributors in the New York area powdered MDMA. They were yellow and
they’re getting real MDMA.” sold the drug as a healthier alternative to had these dark specks around them. They 147
m
smelled and tasted horrible but were very 20 people died as a direct result of these They don’t get high. It’s as if the molecule
powerful. Then these white capsules were ­tainted pills from 2000 to 2001. has a built-in protection mechanism for the
introduced. They were gigantic. They were But it was more than declining purity user. That’s why you rarely see people get-
an inch long. And the big complaint was that that soured me and other early adopters ting addicted to this drug like you do with
you were doped out and you didn’t know on MDMA. Even when I could get hold cocaine and ­methamphetamine.”
what the fuck you were doing. And then of the real deal, an increasingly rare com-
you got speedy and were up for eight hours modity, the drug wasn’t having the same molly test number two
with the jitters. I was seeing the decline in effect anymore. The initial flood of positive
the purity. You could see the effect on the feelings had faded. The law of diminishing Howard is a Miami-based doctor, body-
dance floor. People weren’t in the zone any- returns that affects everybody who does builder and dealer of the latest exotic
more. The mood got a lot darker. That was ­ecstasy for any period of time kicked in. research chemicals. He pulled up to my
around 1993. By that time I was already MDMA advocate Rick Doblin, whose or- apartment in his vintage Chevy. He’d come
planning on getting out of the game.” ganization, the Multidisciplinary Association to test some molly. After Fernando’s drugs
Heavily adulterated ecstasy tablets, often for Psychedelic Studies, has ­spearheaded a turned out to be rubbish, I managed to
containing little or no MDMA, swamped quarter-century-long campaign to rehabili- secure another capsule, this one red and
nightclubs and raves in the 1990s. Par- tate MDMA as a valuable therapeutic tool, costing 20 bucks. The word on the street
ticularly bad was the appearance of a says this is a common ­experience. was this was the bomb. Experienced drug
dangerous stimulant called PMA that was “There’s a buildup factor with ­MDMA,” users swore it was among the best MDMA
sometimes substituted for MDMA in the says Doblin. “If people do it a lot over a long they’d ever taken.
tablets. The drug site Erowid estimates that period of time, they stop feeling the effect. “Yeah, right,” Howard said, rolling his
eyeballs. “When I sell people ­mephedrone
for the first time, I tell them it’s not MDMA.
It’s an analog, and if they don’t like it, they
can have their money back. And they still
come back the next day and say, ‘That’s the
best molly I ever had.’ Most people can’t
tell the difference.”
Howard examined the sample. He
said, “You bought this in Miami Beach?
I haven’t seen real MDMA in Miami in
years. It could be sugar in a capsule.” He
emptied the contents of the capsule onto a
dinner plate. It sure didn’t look like sugar.
The jagged crystals—like shards of broken
glass—were immediately familiar, though
the slightly off-white powder surrounding
the crystals could have been anything.
“That looks like crystal meth,” I said.
“It could be,” Howard responded. “But
bath salts come in crystals too, though
they’re differently shaped.” He pulled
a bag of mephedrone out of his trouser
pocket to make a visual comparison.
For the second molly test, Howard was
using a 12-panel drug-screening kit that
detects twice as many substances as the kit
my wife used to test the first sample, in-
cluding barbiturates and the former animal
anesthetic PCP. Howard put about half the
contents of the capsule into a cup of water
and then dunked the panel. We ­waited for
the test kit to absorb the solution.
“I expect it to be positive for methamphet-
amine based on the way it looks,” he said,
“and maybe have a little MDMA in it. Some-
times they put 10 percent of MDMA in to fool
people into thinking it’s molly. Remember,
methamphetamine is cheaper than MDMA.”
A minute passed and Howard looked at
the test. “Yep, it’s exactly what I thought,”
he said. “So it’s negative for opiates, co-
caine, PCP, barbiturates and oxycodone.
Some people throw some opiates in to mel-
low out the mix. This is positive for meth-
amphetamine and MDMA.”
The overwhelming bulk of the capsule,
Howard concluded, was clearly meth.
“You won’t believe what they put in
­molly,” he said. “Sometimes pain pills,
blood pressure pills, caffeine, aspirin, all in
a big capsule.”
My wife and I continued the hunt for
pure molly. It was becoming obvious we
would have to venture beyond south
148 “One of us is in the wrong cartoon, but I’m not complaining.” ­Florida. While there is some domestic
molly production, most of the MDMA con- fore her death, Rotondo reportedly tweeted,
sumed in the United States comes from “The amount of traveling I’ve done today is
drug gangs in Canada. The amount of unreal. Just get me to the damn zoo.”
MDMA seized at the Canadian border in- Citing “serious health risks” to concert-
creased ninefold from 2003 to 2007. goers, the organizers and the city decided
We decided New York would be a better to cancel the final day of Electric Zoo. The
choice. One of the biggest electronic dance event’s Facebook page was flooded with an-
music festivals in America was about to take gry customers complaining about the can-
place in the city. Tens of thousands of fans, cellation. Typical was this comment: “Hon-
many of them hungry for molly, were set estly, I do not even feel for the people who
to descend on Randall’s Island for a three- died. This is fucking stupid. I paid so much
day concert called Electric Zoo, featuring money to go to this fucking festival. Just
some of the best-known DJs in the world. cuz a couple people are fucking dumb you
If we couldn’t find pure molly there, we ruin it for 10s of thousands! Fuck you Zoo!”
weren’t going to find it anywhere. Eleven days later, the medical exam-
iner released the toxicology report. Russ
• died after taking the synthetic cathinone
By 11 in the morning on Saturday, Au- methylone combined with MDMA. Surpris-
gust 31, the second day of Electric Zoo, the ingly, Rotondo died after consuming pure
crowds were already lining up to get into ­MDMA. Hyperthermia played a role in both
the stadium, a dumpy venue on a lump deaths. Cathinones and MDMA cause the
of land in the middle of the polluted East body’s temperature to rise and can lead to
River. Security was tight. Bags were checked organ failure, as was the case here.
not once but twice. Altoids tins and ciga- Unlike raves in the past, large-scale festi-
rette packets drew extra scrutiny. IDs were vals such as Electric Zoo, Ultra Music Festival
scanned to make sure they weren’t forgeries. and Electric Daisy Carnival refuse to allow
The pat-downs were practically ­indecent. organizations such as Dance­Safe to test molly
As the crowd waited patiently to get ­into on-site because organizers fear they will be
the concert, staffers handed out pamphlets accused of condoning drug use. Maybe if
with the following warning: “Electric Zoo they had, Jeffrey Russ would be alive today.
strongly advocates against the use of drugs.
Avoiding drug use is the only way to com- molly test number three
pletely avoid drug-related risks. You don’t
need drugs anyway when world-class mu- As it turned out, the drug dealer we’d ar-
sic is swirling all around you.” ranged to purchase molly from didn’t show
There was a reason for all the paranoia. up at Electric Zoo, because he couldn’t get
The previous night, 23-year-old Jeffrey Russ hold of his supply in time. We caught up
had collapsed at Electric Zoo. He later died with him the next evening. The guy has
at Harlem Hospital Center. The cause of been dealing in New York since the days of
death had yet to be established, but police the notorious Limelight nightclub and had
suspected Russ had taken what he believed a good reputation for selling quality prod-
to be molly. The victim, a beefy guy who had uct. He assured my wife this was some of
recently graduated from Syracuse Univer- the best molly money could buy.
sity, traveled to the festival with his fraternity We were hopeful we’d finally found the
brothers and fell ill as the last sets of the day genuine article. But the contents of this
wrapped up. Russ’s death was the first fatal- capsule were shocking. It tested positive
ity that weekend. But it wouldn’t be the last. for cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA
As the day progressed, the signs of drug and some form of opiate. That’s three
use increased. Glow sticks and drug wrap- stimulants piled on top of one another with
pers littered the field. Three friends who ap- what was probably an oxycodone chaser.
peared to be in their early 20s sat down at a If that’s what is in molly in New York, no
picnic table. One with pasty skin and a blond wonder kids are dropping dead.
goatee briefly scanned his surroundings be- A friend consumed that molly and re-
fore taking from his backpack a ziplock bag ported back the next day: “Well, it worked.
that contained capsules filled with white Just not in the way molly is supposed to
powder. He took a capsule out, split it and work. There was some molly there, but it
poured the contents into his water bottle. He felt like tripping on heroin.”
shook the bottle vigorously and took a sip. Despite the two fatalities at Electric
He winced and gagged. “This tastes like ass,” Zoo, the big electronic music festival will
he said. “But I’ll be tripping in no time.” probably go on next year. Mayor Michael
Nearby, close to the entrance to the show, Bloomberg strongly defended the organiz-
a young Asian man was lying facedown on ers and said they had done everything in
the grass, humping the ground. He turned their power to protect the concertgoers. At
his head to one side and vomited. By this this festival and others, the search for real
point Electric Zoo’s staffers were spraying molly will continue unabated. People will
the crowd with water hoses. Overheating is always hunt for that high and take chances
a major risk factor for molly users. to find it. As Drugs 2.0 author Mike Power
Around 8:45 in the evening, tragedy says, “Unity, euphoria and sex will never
struck again. Olivia Rotondo, a 20-year-old go out of style.”
University of New Hampshire student, fell
ill and was rushed to Metropolitan Hospital The names of the drug dealers and most of the
Center, where she died shortly after arriving. users in this story have been changed to protect
According to the New York Post, the young their identities.
woman told a medic before she collapsed that
she had taken six hits of molly. Just hours be- b 149