One Molly was broken into two pieces, and when a 24-year-old man swallowed his half, he felt the effects within minutes.

It lasted around six hours, and your eyes would be wide in amazement as you hear him detailing the effects that hopped all over his body like a sugared-up child on a playground.

But the effects didn’t send him running away — they left him wanting more. And so, he continues to go back for more of the drug that the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) has described as unsafe, especially if not prescribed.

International experts say Molly is a street name for MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine), which is a popular rave drug used at nightclubs and music festivals to alter mood and perception. They have warned that though many people may see Molly as a drug that helps them let loose, connect to others, and dance all night, there are many facts about the substance of which users may be unaware.

The man revealed that he has gone from one Molly a month, to one every week. This, he described as a recipe to de-stress after a hectic work week.

And like many other users of the drug, he expressed in detail his “addiction to getting high” — a part of a Jamaica Observer produced documentary entitled Molly Predicament that will be premiered later this month.

“I was first introduced to Molly about maybe a year or two ago. I tried it because of curiosity… I wouldn’t say compelled,” the man recalled.

“I was more curious of what the reaction [would be] like. I just wanted to feel the high that I’ve always seen on TV. I don’t regret trying it, obviously, because I still love doing it. And I still love doing Ecstasy. It’s like the best feeling ever,” he continued.

The man frequently paired Molly and Ecstasy, referring to them as one.

Kevar Bennett, registered pharmacist at Park View Pharmacy in Mandeville, said that is a serious misjudgement.

“Molly is a chemical laboratory drug that is produced in the lab. The drug is produced in its crystalined form. Ecstasy, on the other hand, is chemical that is altered and is known to contain other stimulatory drugs such as amphetamines, caffeine and other forms of drugs. Molly is more dangerous because that is the crystalined form of the powder. It is a pure, crystalined powder,” Bennett told the Sunday Observer.

“Now, whenever you take Molly or any other amphetamines or stimulating drugs, they work on the central nervous system and cause an increase in brain activity. So, therefore, you tend to feel more focused, more concentrated and it also gives you a euphoric feeling.”

Bennett explained that Molly takes about 15 minutes to reach into the bloodstream and enters the brain, after which it works on the neurotransmitters, and there are three in particular.

These are the serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The serotonin is a chemical that carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout the body. The dopamine is a molecule that plays several important roles in cells and norepinephrine is an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter.

Further, the man, who sources the pills for $2,000, told the Sunday Observer that though he has taken the drug while smoking and drinking alcohol concurrently, the drug, on its own, supersedes that of “weed and liquor.”

“The liking that I have for it would be the high that it gives. It doesn’t really give you a bad after-feeling, unlike weed that leaves a bad smell on your breath and liquor that makes you hangover. It doesn’t do any of that. It just makes you a little tired,” he said.

“I was put on to it by a friend. They were trying it and they gave me a piece to try and I always wanted to. The first time, to be honest, I couldn’t move — my limbs were numb, but it felt so good at the same time. It just gave me a high that I loved and I couldn’t get over it. The first time I only took one, and it depends on your mood,” he said.

Worried at first as to what his reaction to the drug would be, the man said he took it nonetheless, in the company of friends who weren’t novices.

“Sometimes it makes you happy, sometimes it makes you sad. It heightens the mood that you’re in. Most people also take it to get horny. I was terrified about it because I did it with my friend and his friend and I was scared what would happen after. Nothing happened, thank God. They took care of me the whole night, because the whole night, I really just sang and lay on the floor high as hell,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Look out for Jamaica Observer’s ‘Molly Predicament’ this month, for more detailed stories on first-hand, eye-opening encounters with the drug among Jamaican youth.