What used to be a simple name that reminded people of a girl with pigtails has transpired into a drug trend called Molly.
   If you are over 40, the term may be relatively new. However, today’s society recognizes Molly as the crystalized or powder form of three, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which contains some of the same compounds as Ecstasy.
   The street drug has been glamorized by popular culture in the recent months. Rapper Kanye West uses the term in his song “Blood on the Leaves,” and Miley Cyrus just cannot stop “dancing with Molly” in her song “We Can’t Stop.”
    Just like some of your favorite pop icons, MDMA becomes a force to be reckoned with.
     Koye Davis is a local rapper. He shares that MDMA popularity is a trend and yields negative results for those who partake.
   “I feel like it started with hip-hop and lot of the key artists are promoting Molly. It is basically a popular drug; it is in right now. It is really not good for people at all,” said Koye Davis.
    According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, MDMA causes an increase in heart rate and blood and body temperature. When taken in larger doses, it promotes hallucinogenic actions.
    Michelle LaFleur, Grant Support and Alcohol and Drug Specialist at MSU’s Longest Student Health Center, explained the chemical make-up of MDMA.
   “Molly is a synthetic drug. It gives you an MDMA-like high, so it is very similar to Ecstasy,” LaFleur said. “Synthetic drugs are 10 to 20 times more potent than a plant-based counterpart.”
    Immediate side effects of MDMA are dehydration, vomiting, loss of appetite and the inability to urinate.  These can result in tiredness, headaches, sore or dry mouth and feelings of depression.
  “This drug causes your brain to release all the serotonin and dopamine at once.  So, when you come down off the drug, all your serotonin is depleted. It takes days and sometimes weeks to build your serotonin back up depending on the amount of MDMA a person uses, so people can become very depressed after they take it,” LaFleur said.
    If MDMA is so dangerous, why are celebrities like Rick Ross, Madonna, 2 Chainz and Trinidad James endorsing it? Popularity is the answer, according to Davis.
     “Basically, artists are running with it. Like, if you use it in your song, then your song is going to be popular. So people are using it to get more attention. They probably are not even using the drug, and they are getting other people to do it,” Davis said.
    According to DrugPolicy.org, MDMA was popularized by psychotherapist and mental health practitioners in the 1970s and early 1980s as a form of treatment. In the 1990s, it became the preferred drug at clubs and raves.
   Today, MDMA undergoes clinical trials to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder patients. However, it has quickly regained its popularity as a party drug.
Keenyn Wald, a staff counselor at Student Counseling Services, shares his experience in drug counseling to expand on MDMA’s popularity.
     “I have been working with alcohol and drugs for eight years. I have not seen a rise and overall drug use. What I have seen is a natural cycle of what drug is popular. Right now, it is Molly,” Wald said.
    Wald continued to state that a drug’s popularity is cyclical.
   “If you look back over the past 10 years, Ecstasy was really popular, then it winged down. Then, it was cocaine, and it went down. With these higher-level drugs, you see a rotation of what is more pop culture — what is in the now,” Wald said.
   From the early 1900s to today, there has been a significant change in how people used drugs. Emily Ryalls, communication associate professor and pop culture expert, said she believes social media has created more dialogue when it comes to illegal substances.
  “Media has provided an outlet for people to be more open about drug use,” Ryalls said. “In the 80s, when cocaine was going crazy, people were not out at four in the morning tweeting for the disco track that they had just done a line of blow in the bathroom. Today, that would be the case.”
  As MDMA becomes a household name in the media, many would think users are more aware of its side effects. That is an inaccurate assumption.
   Over Labor Day weekend, two young people fatally overdosed on MDMA at the New York Electric Zoo Festival.
   On average, the New York Health Department said it  sees 10 deaths resulting from MDMA and Ecstasy overdoses annually.
   Molly is no longer the girl next door that people envision. Molly is a dangerous trend in popular culture and society that is leading to an increase in overdoses and MDMA-related hospital visits.
    The next time a celebrity like Madonna asks, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” at a concert, officials hope that people will look for a girl rather than the MDMA-like drug.