Ecstasy/MDMA is New Zealand’s most popular illicit substance after cannabis - about 4% of Kiwis say they have tried it recently. Now, reported use among middle-aged and older Kiwis is also increasing. One couple told Hannah Brown it “changed everything” when they tried it for the first time over 50, and has been the best thing for their relationship in the 15 years they’ve been together.
WARNING: This article contains references to drug use. Catherine* tried MDMA for the first time in her early 50s, provided by her husband Jon* - who had tried it and loved it three years earlier on a night out with mates. “For our marriage, it’s become our thing,” she told the Herald .
“We take it at a concert occasionally, and we love those. And four times a year we have an at-home party, just the two of us. Music - very loud in the living room, we dance together, we caress each others’ faces and we list all the many ways in which we love each other, we connect, and for weeks afterwards all Jon’s best qualities are amplified and it’s hard to remember the things we normally get frustrated by .
” MDMA or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine - also commonly known as ecstasy, E or Molly - is a psychoactive drug developed incidentally by Merck scientists in 1912 when they were working on another drug. It later became a recreational street and party substance in the 1980s and 1990s, and in New Zealand is a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. It’s also the second most.