Rolling Safe: Taking MDMA For the First Time

Using MDMA for the first time is daunting, but preparation can help ensure an enjoyable introductory experience.

Aug 14, 2023

Whether you’re dropping at a rave with friends, taking MDMA with your partner for a spicy night in, or participating in psychedelic therapy, it’s important to arm yourself with knowledge and learn the risks involved with MDMA.

MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is one of the most popular festival drugs in existence, but don’t let that fool you. A bad night on Molly — or a rough morning after — won’t feel like a party.

Here’s a helpful guide for anyone looking to roll for the first time.

→ This post was submitted by Tripsitter's special guest, Archaic Revival.

First Thing’s First: MDMA Safe Trip Checklist

Here’s a handy checklist for making sure you’re ready to roll (don’t worry, I’ll cover them in more detail below):

🐍 I understand why psychedelics should be treated with respect

⚖️ I’m familiar with the laws for MDMA in my country & state

🍄 I’m familiar with, and confident in the dose I’m taking (50–150 mg)

🧪 I’ve tested a sample of my MDMA with a drug-testing kit

💊 I’m not mixing any medications or other substances with MDMA

🏔 I’m in a safe & comfortable environment with people I trust

🐺 One of the members of my group is responsible and sober (AKA a trip sitter)

⏳ I have nothing important scheduled for after the trip (including the following day)

🧠 I’m in a sound & healthy state of mind

❤️ I don’t have any underlying heart or psychiatric disorders

🌵 I understand the risk of dehydration & have a water plan

Bonus MDMA Pro-Tips

In addition to the guidelines above, here are a few tips for ensuring your experience on MDMA is enjoyable:

Be selective in who you roll with
Prepare a 6-8 hr playlist of music
Create a cozy nest with lots of blankets & pillows
Have tasty, nutritional snacks and drinks ready
Lights and toys are fun
A short walk is a good way to spend your come-up

Also, avoid calling or texting anyone while rolling — I assure you, you are not passing for sober. Just turn your phone off if you can; you won’t need it.

What Should MDMA Look Like? Pills vs. Powder

MDMA crystals should be white — even if you’ve heard of “purple” or “brown sugar molly.”

Any color is a sign of an incomplete synthesis — often containing MDA alongside MDMA after not fully processing the precursor (safrole). MDA shares similar stimulating effects as MDMA but has a much higher body load associated with it.

Body load refers to the physical sensations or discomfort associated with some psychoactive substances. MDA has a particularly high body load, so it’s better to avoid this substance as much as possible and stick to pure MDMA.

For this reason, most psychonauts recommend going for white capsulated or powdered MDMA rather than pressed pills.

There are a few other reasons most people recommend avoiding pills:

#1. Difficulty with Dosage

It’s impossible to measure the exact dose of MDMA when it comes in pill form, and most pills contain way too high of a dosage (sometimes as much as 300 mg or more).

For reference, the standard dose for MDMA is around 100 mg.

Knowing your dosage and feeling confident in it may be the single most important harm-reduction method for nearly any drug. Psychedelics are dose-dependent and can act very differently when the dosage is higher than anticipated.

With a powder, measuring your dosage is much easier since you don’t have to contend as much with fillers and other unknown elements.

#2. Problems with Contamination in MDMA Presses

In 2021, 45% of MDMA pills tested by the harm reduction organization The Loop contained no MDMA.

Other drugs are often mixed in with presses, including MDA, MDEA, amphetamines, caffeine, 2C-B, ketamine, and more. Pills are more likely to contain adulterants because added colors and the pressing process itself can easily mask contaminants.

How to Test Your MDMA

Drug reagent tests can be bought cheaply online. Using just a tiny sample of your pills or powders, you can test the purity of your drugs. This is the best way to avoid consuming adulterated or downright dangerous molly.

It works by taking a small sample of your drugs (about the size of a grain of sand is more than enough) and dropping one drop of the testing solution over it. The color of the drop will change depending on which compounds the powder contains.

Normally, you’ll want to run at least 2 of these tests (sometimes 3 or 4) using different reagents to rule out different classes of drugs.

Always test your MDMA with Marquis, Mecke, and Simon’s A/B reagents.

Marquis is the most important, determining samples are clear of meth, PMA, PMMA, or synthetic cathinones — drugs often found in ‘MDMA’ samples.

To test an MDMA sample with a Marquis reagent:

Place a pinhead-sized amount on the white ceramic dish
Without touching the sample, drop a single drop of reagent onto it.
Observe the color change — MDMA should turn purple and then black in about 30 seconds.

The Mecke reagent is then used to determine if any opiates are in the sample (any amount detected means the pills should be discarded).

The Simon’s reagent requires a drop from both the A solution and the B solution. This reagent is a good secondary test to confirm the presence of MDMA.

Left to right: Different appearances of MDMA, presses with comparative doses, reagent color expectations

Tips on Dosing MDMA

The standard MDMA dose should be around 80-120 mg — people with higher tolerances or larger individuals may go up to 150 mg.

I highly recommend you don’t exceed this amount. At a certain point, taking more MDMA doesn’t make the effects stronger; it just elevates the side effects and risks.

Re-dosing MDMA is a common practice by psychonauts who aren’t quite ready to make the journey back to baseline. You can only re-dose MDMA once — it won’t increase the effects, but it will lengthen the timeline of your roll by about 2 hours.

If you re-dose, do so 2–3 hours after your first dose, and don’t exceed 50% of your original dose.

Losing The Magic: MDMA Tolerance

MDMA tolerance happens immediately and can take at least 1 month for tolerance to reduce to half (2.5 months to return to baseline).

If you roll too often, you might “lose the magic,” — meaning you won’t get high from MDMA anymore. The technical term for this is tolerance.

This is the reasoning behind Ann Shulgin’s 3-month rule. Her belief was that users should not exceed a maximum of 4 MDMA sessions a year (once every 3-months).

MDMA exhibits cross-tolerance with all dopaminergic and serotonergic stimulants. This means you can’t swap MDMA with other amphetamines to keep rolling.

What is the Timeline of MDMA?

MDMA is different for everybody, and the purity and potency of the pills you’re using can directly affect how long it takes to kick in, how hard it comes on, and how long it takes before you’re back to baseline.

In general, MDMA takes up to an hour to kick in, reaches peak effects in 2 hours, and fades out by the 5-hour mark.

Here’s what to look forward to when “rolling” with MDMA:

Onset of Effects (~30-60 mins) — You may experience nausea, anxiety, tactile enhancement, or a strange stimulation. Keep breathing and practice relaxing exercises through this time to ease the symptoms.
Peak (~1.5-2.5 hrs) — Euphoria, tactile enhancement, energy, feelings of love, sociability, and connection may overtake you. Note: This would be around the time to re-dose.
Comedown (~4 Hrs) — The first thing most people notice is a fading of the euphoria and any residual side effect(s) becoming more noticeable.
Baseline (4-6 Hrs) — This is when you’ll feel back to completely normal though
Residual Stimulation (6-8 Hrs) — This is a leftover stimulatory effect that may continue in a lighter way for a couple of hours even after you feel normal.
Afterglow (Day After) — MDMA afterglow is an uplifting feeling, similar to how you might feel on a really good day or after a microdose.

Effects timeline on left, comparative experiences based on dosages on right

What Are the Risks of Using MDMA?

The most common side effects are nystagmus (uncontrolled eye movements), anxiety, dry mouth, sweating, increased heart rate, nausea, gumming/teeth grinding, and more.

The biggest risks when taking MDMA is hyperthermia and dehydration. This is why it’s essential that users make an effort to remain hydrated throughout the experience — ideally, 8–16 oz of an electrolyte-containing beverage per hour.

While it’s important to stay hydrated, overhydrating can also be a problem. Too much hydration can cause hyponatremia. When sodium levels drop too low, it can cause serious, life-threatening injury.

To reduce this risk, drink water slowly and limit yourself to 2 cups an hour.

Hyponatremia symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, and fatigue.

If you’re on the fence, always err on the side of seeking help. Remember, it’s better to get medical attention and not need it than the other way around.

Avoid Taking MDMA With Other Drugs:

Some drugs are safer than others to combine, but any combination carries a risk. Above all else, avoid alcohol or other psychostimulants while rolling (including other amphetamines, ADHD medications, caffeine, or cocaine).

If you like to smoke cannabis, try to avoid it until coming down from MDMA.

Cannabis can cloud the experience and take away some of the euphoria if you smoke during the peak. However, it can be a great tool for the come down — people often experience anxiety around this, and smoking can help make it more enjoyable.

Helpful MDMA Supplements

I recommend including supplements as a harm-reduction strategy to improve your roll, help with side effects, and brighten the days after.

Check out Rollsafe’s breakdown for more information on these.

Here are some helpful supplements:

Magnesium Glycinate — Most important! Reduces jaw clenching.
Alpha Lipoic Acid or Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR)
Vitamin C
Melatonin
NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine)
Ginger
Green Tea
L-Theanine
Ubiquinone (Co-Q10)

Tips on Preventing Comedowns & Adverse Reactions To MDMA

“Blue Mondays” — the hangover some users experience after taking MDMA — may come from a few different factors. These include contamination, dehydration/overhydration, lack of sleep, overheating, and your overall physiological makeup.

Ensure you’re taking a clean and proper dose of MDMA, don’t take it late at night, stay cool and appropriately hydrated, and you’ll likely avoid a bad comedown.

I have rolled ~12 times — always using supplements — and have never experienced a comedown, only afterglows.

Make sure you have nothing scheduled for the next day — MDMA is incredible but exhausting. Giving yourself a day of recovery is a necessary step toward self-care.

Only Take MDMA With People You Feel Safe With

MDMA has an easier headspace than classic psychedelics, but the set, setting, and dose are just as crucial. Taking MDMA with the wrong people, taking too much, or going in with a negative mindset or setting will increase the odds of an adverse experience.

Another pitfall MDMA users run into is mistaking MDMA emotions for real emotions. You may truly believe that you fell in love with that person you just met, but it’s likely just the flood of serotonin and oxytocin in your brain.

Be careful who you take MDMA with, and consider how many (if any) strangers you want around. MDMA lowers boundaries and increases empathy, making it easy to manipulate someone under the influence.

Since being popularized by Ann and Alexander Shulgin in the 1980s, party-goers and therapy communities alike have loved MDMA and “raved” about its potential. The euphoria, lack of fear, and increased connection make it a great drug for many circumstances.

But it is not without risks. If you follow the tips above, you can reduce your risk of adverse experiences, overdoses, or the dreaded comedown. Preparation and education help ensure success whenever psychedelics are involved — ecstasy isn’t any different.

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Credits & Shoutouts

Article by: Archaic Revival
Artwork by: Dikigiyat
Edited for Substack by: J Gordon Curtis