Bath Salt Debacle at Wesleyan University

In recent years, a new drug has become popular amongst party-goers called “molly”. Molly is thought by many to be “pure” MDMA, but often this couldn’t be further from the truth. Often times, molly can contain ingredients that are much more dangerous than MDMA, including the infamous drugs known as “bath salts”. There have been a number of cases of people that have been hospitalized after ingesting what they thought was pure MDMA, but was really another, much more dangerous substance.

One case of this substance containing a dangerous chemical occurred at Wesleyan University. Ten people at the university were found exhibiting symptoms of a drug overdose and one of the patients even had to be revived using a defibrillator! Four of the people had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital because their condition was so critical. The culprit behind these overdoses was likely something other than MDMA.

In a study of “molly”, it was found that only 13 percent of the substance actually contained any MDMA! The others were all other chemicals, commonly bath salts. So, essentially when one purchases a dose of this substance, they have no idea what it actually is that they are getting.

Bath Salts, which are a common ingredient in Molly have led to some very nasty outcomes. The substances can cause heart attacks, bizarre behavior, agitation, suicidal thinking, and even outright death. Bath Salts are dangerous substances that carry far greater risks than MDMA itself.

However, some people are still going to continue to use these substances despite the risks involved, so there is a second best option. There are kits available to test substances such as what is sold as “molly” to determine what chemical exactly is in the drugs. If one is set on consuming “molly”, using one of these kits will help to mitigate some of the risk involved.

If the substance is tested and it is not what it is sold as, chances are it is very risky to consume it. If there are significant impurities, still, it is likely very risky to take. If the substance is not what the person purchased, some users may see not being able to ingest the substance as having wasted their money. However, in spite of this, if the “molly” that was tested is not MDMA or only partially MDMA, the health risks are great and simply throwing the substance in the garbage is certainly the best way to go because your health is worth more than whatever it was that you paid on the substance.

Of course, even MDMA itself does carry some risks such as dehydration and heat stroke. There have been cases of people who have been seriously negatively effected by MDMA alone, but this is relatively uncommon. In comparison to other illicit drugs, MDMA is MUCH less dangerous. It is typically the impurities that lead to the deaths and/or overdoses rather than the MDMA itself.