Ecstasy

Ecstasy is the street name for methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMAPsychoactive synthetic drug used largely for recreational purposes). This drug can affect your energy level, mood and appetite. It is manufactured in illegal laboratories and can be stamped with logos such as peace signs giving it a candy-like look.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, ecstasy may contain fillers and drugs other than MDMA, including caffeine, amphetamines, dextromethorphan, ketamine, and LSD. It could also contain potentially lethal toxic drugs, such as paramethoxyamphetamine, a designer drug in the amphetamine class. Ecstasy is sometimes sold in powder form or tablets can be crushed and snorted. It is also possible to inject it.

Use of the drug increased in the 1980s among young people at all-night dance parties and became known as the rave or club drug. Today it is used by a wider range of people.

XTC, adam, beans, candy, dancing shoes, M&M, disco biscuits, dove, E-bomb, egg rolls, pill, peanut, hug drug, love drug, malcolm, molly, smartees, sweets, skittles, thizz vitamin E or X.

MDMA increases the activity of three brain chemicals: serotonin, which affects mood; dopamine, which increases energy; and norepinephrine, which raises blood pressure and heart rate. The drug’s effects can last up to six hours and you could experience chills, sweating, nausea and blurred vision. After the initial effects have worn off you may be irritable, confused, paranoid, depressed or anxious. Although regarded by some as relatively safe, ecstasy increases your body temperature, blood pressure and heart rate, which can result in kidney or heart failure, seizures and stroke. High doses could lead to heart failure or death.

Because MDMA is listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), it is illegal in Canada to possess, traffic, import, export, or produce it without legal authorization. Schedule I offences can carry serious penalties, especially where traffickingInfluencing the movements of a person in order to exploit them, importing/exporting, or production is alleged.

To find you guilty of possessing ecstasy, the Crown must establish beyond a reasonable doubtThe high standard the Crown must meet to prove guilt. that you were in possession of the drug. Remember that “possession” is not just limited to the idea that the drug was found on your person or in your car or house. Instead, it means that you had some degree of control and knowledge of the drug.

As a result, you can be found guilty of possession even if the ecstasy was found at someone else's house or in a friend’s knapsack.

The Crown must also prove that the substance is listed in the CDSA and that you knew what it was. The Crown does not have to prove that you knew the exact law. But if you genuinely did not know what the substance was, that may matter.

MDMA, often called ecstasy, is a Schedule ICommonly characterized as “hard drugs" drug under the CDSA. Simple possessionHaving knowledge and control of something — not only physically holding it, but also an item kept somewhere else that you know about and control. is a hybrid offenceAn offence the Crown can proceed with summarily or by indictment.: on indictment the maximum is 7 years; on summary convictionLess-serious criminal offences the maximum is $1,000 and/or 6 months for a first offence, or $2,000 and/or 1 year for a subsequent offence. Trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking can only be tried as an indictable offenceA more serious type of Canadian criminal offence. and carries a maximum of life imprisonment.

Under the CDSA, you can be convicted of trafficking if you "sell, administer, give, transport, send or deliver the substance" or if you "sell an authorization to obtain the substance or offer to do anything mentioned." An exchange of money is not required for a conviction. Simply transferring a controlled substance such as crack from one person to another is enough.

November 17, 2022
Update: Bill C-5: Mandatory Minimum Penalties Repealed.

MDMA, commonly called ecstasy, is currently treated as a Schedule I substance under the CDSA.

The statute lists the substance by its chemical name. This page uses MDMA/ecstasy because those are the names most readers recognize.