By Carla St. Louis

Hip-hop has undergone some major changes. The genre that originally portrayed black men as the epitome of masculinity now incorporates skirts in it’s dress code and chucked the deuces to weed for a new drug, i.e., molly.

Like seriously (in my Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple voice): “Harpo, who this woman?!”

Love & Hip-Hop cast member Joe Budden and Deception actress Meagan Good are openly discussing the drug’s dangerous and not-too-fun side effects namely psychosis, a false sense of security, and heart failure just to name a few.

[Watch] Joe Budden Discuss Side Effects Of Molly

While countless rappers like Rick Ross, Diddy, and Trinidad James have openly hyped molly, the purest form of MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), as a gateway to good times, they fail to discuss its negative effects in their one-sided conversations.

Earlier this week, Joe Budden,  confessed his recreational use of molly nearly cost him his life during a tapping of VH1′s Love & Hip Hop. He furthered that conversation on a segment with Lisa Everest of Fox 5 News to talk about the drug and it’s effects.

He revealed:

I didn’t see a problem with the fact that maybe five days would go by without sleeping. I didn’t see a problem with the fact that maybe I was hallucinating at times. I didn’t see a problem with the fact that I just couldn’t get up and walk sometimes. It just altered your thinking process dramatically, and for a thinker like myself, that was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

Now everyone is speaking about Molly like it’s the thing to do. I thought it was important for somebody, anybody, to stand up and say, ‘you know, I did that, it’s corny.’ I’m just hoping that at the end of the day, it won’t be me versus the entire music industry when it comes to who a 13-year-old should listen to regarding drugs.

Dr. Petros Levounis of the Addiction Institute of New York, weighed in on the subject and commented:

People get a false sense of safety and security with Molly or ecstasy. Meanwhile, what ecstasy does is give you long-term effects. If ecstasy doesn’t do much for you by itself, it you start combining it with other stimulants like cocaine or bath salts, the problem really skyrockets and you may end up having your heart stop.

Last month, actress Meagan Good recounted her experience with molly on Twitter:

Popped da Molly, I got permanent psychosis, irreversible sexual dysfunction and brain bleeding WHOO

She later tweeted:

It’s so sad how angry Molly users are getting over this…Lame? Me? Because I’m calling out this wack trend? SMH…OK…BE A Leader…

CNN provided a summary of the drug’s make-up including side effects:

MDMA, even in its pure form, can produce elevated heart rates and distortion of thought processes, causing users not to realize their rising body temperature or fading stamina as they continue to party. Combining MDMA with alcohol or other drugs can also be the cause of its more serious side effects.

Bania frequently sees patients who have complications from MDMA, ranging from dehydration and exhaustion to more severe side effects such as hyperthermia, seizures, electrolyte abnormalities, cardiac episodes and comas.

MDMA also depletes the body of some of its neurotransmitters, which can lead to a decreased mood about a day or two after using the drug. Prentiss said he has even seen the drug lead to long-term depression.

And some interesting facts about it:

This year [2012] , molly was abundant at music festivals — if you knew where to look. At Miami’s Ultra Music Festival, fliers littered the landscape mentioning her name like missing child posters: “Have you seen molly?” And when Madonna took to the stage to introduce an artist, the pop star asked the audience: “How many people in this crowd have seen molly?” A slew of cheers answered, though Madonna later said she’d been referring to a song, not to an illegal drug.

Hip-hop artists claim they know her — she’s casually mentioned by 2 Chainz in the Nicki Minaj track “Beez In the Trap,” by Childish Gambino in his song “Unnecessary,” by Kanye West in “Mercy,” by Danny Brown in “Die Like a Rockstar.”

MDMA acts as a stimulant and a psychedelic, according to the DEA.

Its exact makeup has been confused and contradicted among both users and experts. The DEA has labeled molly as MDMA, but Carl Hart, a Columbia University associate professor of psychology, said many researchers consider molly to be the chemical 6-APB, or Benzo Fury.

Because MDMA has long been associated with raves, the mainstream popularity of electronic dance music also contributed to molly’s rising reputation, DanceSafe’s Messer said.

In 2011, about 25 kilograms of molly worth at least $525,000 were recovered after a DEA investigation of a large-scale drug trafficking operation based in Syracuse, New York, a college town. The bust led to charges against 20 people.

But the Drug Abuse Warning Network’s study also found that from 2004 to 2009, there was a 123% increase in the number of emergency room visits involving MDMA taken alone or in combination with pharmaceuticals, alcohol or both.

 

What has caused the popularity of molly? Was Eminem the first rapper to market ecstasy to hip-hop fans? Are Diddy and other rappers taking his position in advertising it?

Source: NecoleBitchie, CNN