What Does the Drug Ecstasy Look Like?

One reason there's such variation in the appearance of ecstasy is that often different ingredients are used to bind the crystalline powder into a pill form and to extend the ingredients.

In addition to differences in color, size, and shape, the pills often are stamped or imprinted with unique logos. These logos and imprints help build a following for Ecstasy made in specific labs. Bright colors also make it more appealing, especially to young people. Here are a few examples of ecstasy pills to show their range of appearance.

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

Pure MDMA has a crystalline appearance. When made into pill form, other ingredients are added to bind it together. One danger is that in buying an ecstasy pill, the purchaser cannot be sure what drug (if any) or how much of the drug is in the pill. This can lead to dangerous interactions with other drugs and to overdoses. The tablets might contain methamphetamine, cocaine, piperazine, synthetic cathinones ("bath salts"), or many different chemical contaminants. This pill with a fish logo is similar to a batch seized in Greece.

Illegal labs imprint logos into their ecstasy tablets to build a following. Purchasers might choose which tablets to buy based on the imprint. They may also give different imprints different names.

The imprint on these MDMA pills looks innocuous. It is an example of branding done by the illegal labs where ecstasy is produced. Often, they try to appeal to the youth market, thus the pretty butterfly image. 

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.

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 users to share their experiences with different pills online and on social media.

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 with the same logo.

Ecstasy tablets may come in shapes other than round. This tablet has an X on it for ecstasy. Other shapes include hearts, triangles, oblong squares, and squares. They may also be shaped like animals or cartoon characters, similar to chewable vitamins.

If you suspect that a pill offered by a friend or found in your teen's room is ecstasy, it may or may not be that drug. The bottom line is that you take a very large risk in taking a pill that was manufactured illegally. You can never know what is in the pill or how it might affect your body. Even if you try to check it out online, you can't be sure that the batch you have in your hand will have the same active ingredients.