Long-term ecstasy use and the management of work and relationships

This study is a supplement to the Netherlands XTC Toxicity Study (NeXT), a multidisciplinary study on the neurotoxicity of ecstasy. We focus here on behavioural aspects of long-term, heavy ecstasy use, with particularly emphasis on occupational careers and intimate relationships. We interviewed a targeted sample of 29 ecstasy users in Amsterdam (11 females, 18 males, aged 38–55) with a lifetime consumption of ≥250 pills. They varied widely in terms of work careers and current employment. Career interruptions due to illness or unemployment were rather common. Most of these heavy ecstasy users were not particularly career-minded, but gave priority to their social life instead. Nonetheless, two-third of the respondents (19/29) were currently employed, and hence did not differ in this respect from their age-group peers in the Amsterdam general population. Respondents employed various strategies to keep their ecstasy use from adversely affecting their functioning, such as working flexible hours and tempering their ecstasy use in busy periods. More than half of respondents (16/29) had an intimate relationship (≥1 year) at the time of the interview, almost all with a partner who also took ecstasy.