What Does the Drug Ecstasy Look Like?

Ecstasy Comes in Many Varieties

One reason there's such variation in the appearance of ecstasy is that different ingredients are used to bind the crystalline powder into a pill or tablet form and to extend the ingredients. This is also one of the greatest dangers when it comes to ecstasy—you can never really know what these pills contain.

The following examples of Ecstasy pills show their range of appearance.

Triangular MDMA Tablets Marked With an "X"

This MDMA pill has a fancy letter X stamped into it, likely referring to ecstasy (XTC). Ecstasy usually comes in 50mg to 150mg tablets that are either swallowed whole or crushed and snorted. 

Most of the ecstasy pills sold on the street in the United States are manufactured abroad. Sources are often illegal labs in Canada and the Netherlands, where enforcement is not as strict as in the United States. Illegal labs in the U.S. have far more difficulty in obtaining the precursors, which are well-monitored by the industrial chemical industry.

Speckled Ecstasy Tablet With Fish Imprint

Pure MDMA has a crystalline appearance. When made into tablet form, other ingredients are added to bind it together.

Other substances and fillers are often added to ecstasy pills as a way to cut costs and maximize profits. Some pills may only contain small amounts of MDMA, while some might not contain any at all. The substances that are often included in these pills may sometimes mimic the effects of MDMA, but they can also present serious dangers.

The tablets might contain methamphetamine, cocaine, piperazine, synthetic cathinones ("bath salts"), or any number of different chemical contaminants. This pill with a fish logo is similar to a batch seized in Greece.

While research is limited, some evidence suggests that ecstasy in powder form known as Molly is frequently so adulterated with other substances that it often contains little to no actual MDMA.

Off-White Ecstasy Tablet With Crow's Foot Symbol

Illegal labs imprint symbols into their ecstasy tablets as "logos" to build a following. Different imprints may even be given different names. These imprints may influence purchasing decisions based on reputation or past experience with a particular product.

For example, When other people take a pill and experience negative effects, they may share this information with others. These imprints may sometimes help people avoid certain pills that have become known for presenting dangers.

Blue Ecstasy Tablet With Butterfly Imprint

The butterfly imprint on these MDMA pills looks innocuous, even fun—and that's by design. This sort of branding is often used by the illegal lab where the ecstasy was produced to try appeal to a younger market. 

Yellow Ecstasy Tablet With Space Shuttle Symbol

This MDMA tablet has a Space Shuttle imprint, which might indicate how spacey or high it promises to make the user. This example is similar to one found in San Francisco.

White Ecstasy Tablet With Star Dust Imprint

This ecstasy tablet has a "Star Dust" imprint. It might refer to the glam rock days of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Reports are that it came from a lab in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The imprints allow people to share their experiences with different pills online and on social media.

Ecstasy Tablet With Thumbs Up Logo

The "thumbs up" logo has been seen in many different variations on MDMA tablets. Some of them have tested as including MDA rather than MDMA. You can never know from batch to batch what is in illegally-manufactured pills, even those with the same logo.

Triangular Ecstasy Tablet With "X" Logo

While round is a popular, ecstasy tablets may come in other shapes as well. This tablet has an X on it for "ecstasy" or "extasy." Other tablet shapes include hearts, triangles, oblong squares, and squares. They may also be shaped like animals or cartoon characters, similar to popular chewable vitamin products for children.