Looking at the bigger picture, for every case where MDMA was allegedly present, there were about twenty marijuana-related cases. How can this be? Marijuana is extremely safe; the vast majority of these people were clearly not in medical danger. The explanation is that people on psychoactive drugs often come to the hospital because they think something might be wrong; they get scared. With MDMA, a lot of ‘got scared’ stories appear to be happening. A study of ER admissions in the Netherlands found that, of the patients there for some complaint related to ‘ecstasy’, most (89%) did not require treatment beyond the initial visit/talk with a doctor.[1] More recent DAWN data shows the same trend; only about one in ten people who go to the hospital are admitted for treatment; the rest are sent home. Most ER cases also involve alcohol. [2] (If you feel something might be wrong, either with yourself or somebody else, do not hesitate to seek medical attention. Maybe it’s nothing serious, but better to be safe than sorry.)

Numbers alone don’t really tell the whole story, however: Where things get interesting is not how many users encounter medical problems, but why they do. The distribution of injuries and deaths is not random throughout the user population; it is associated with specific risk factors and behaviors. (Read the rest of the Science section for more information.)