There are no safe substitutes for ecstasy other than placebos. Some people claim that various legal herbal extracts are a near equal replacement for MDMA without the damaging effects but so far none has been found. Most substitutes are made from plants and herbs and marketted under the name Ecstacy The closest would be Ephedra, a Chinese herbal plant. Ephedra heightens all the senses and makes you more aware of your surroundings, just like caffeine but stronger. The downside is it is extremely dangerous if a person overdoses and it has not really been studied much so no one really knows of the side/long term effects.

Some people believe that most of the MDMA effects are in the head. In one experiment, Nicholas Sauders (author of Ecstasy and the Dance Culture) distributed 50 herbal substitutes and 50 vitamin pills at a festival. Most of the results from the vitamin pills and herbal substitues were the same, ranging from some people describing it as the best ecstasy they've ever had to others saying they didn't feel it. So both the herbal substitues and vitamin pills had little physical effect on the people but created a big placebo effect.

EPHEDRA

Ephedra, also known as Ma Huang, is a plant thas has been used in Chinese herbal medicine for centuries. Ephedra is sold at drug and health stores almost everywhere and many people believe it to be a substitute to ecstasy. People don't understand that it can be worst than MDMA ecstasy. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it can be abused. Ephedra is even worst because it is natural. Many people associate natural with being harmless, "it isn't a drug because it hasn't been taken out of it's natural state", but some of the most deadly chemicals are found organic (poison arrow frog, anyone?). Since MDMA and it's substitutes are relatively new to the drug scene, nobody can predict the long term effects until at least 10 more years because the majority of the users are teens.

EFACT: Ephedra is so easily abused that the FDA1 propsed to ban most of it's uses in 1997.

For more information on ephedra, go to EPHEDRAFACTS.COM

¹ Food and Drug Administration