In Dunedin it's like
how many bongs you can smoke
and there's how much piss you can drink
and then there's also
how much gear you can take.
The New Zealand police release a map
showing what drugs are present
in wastewater testing around Aotearoa.
In most of the country
methamphetamine dominates,
representing almost 100% of drugs
found in northern Waikato.
But down south
it's a different story.
In 2020, MDMA
represented 95% of drugs present
in Dunedin's wastewater.
Do you want to tell me
what MDMA culture looks like
in Dunedin at the moment?
A lot of people
take it [on] a lot of occasions.
It doesn't really...
Yeah, very casual now.
I think it's just everywhere.
People like give it to each other
as birthday presents.
Wastewater testing shows
MDMA use has gone up 40%
in the last three years in
the Southern region.
While experts told me this
has only caused a small spike
in short-term harm
like dehydration or hyperthermia,
there are concerns people may be
taking it too frequently
which has been associated with
long-term impacts to
memory, mood and concentration.
Anecdotally, it's said you should
only take MDMA
once every three months.
But some people in Dunedin
are using it multiple times a week.
The rise in Dunedin's
MDMA culture has gone
hand in hand with the popularity
of electronic music,
particularly drum and bass.
The Lakehouse is one of Dunedin's
central D&B party flats.
Several of its 15 tenants are prominent
DJs in the city.
One anecdote that I heard
which kind of blew
my mind is people saying
that people in the
the Castle Street area can do a line
before going to like an Indian BYO.
One of my mates in first year
dropped a cap before
going to the rugby.
And he was just sitting in the stands
blasted.
It was pretty crack up.
There's people going out on Castle Street
in Flo or O-week
and they're just like
dropping a couple eccys on a Monday or Tuesday.
Gurning to fuck.
It's stupid.
It's embarrassing.
For people
who don't know what gurning is,
do you want to explain?
It's like when you take too much pingas
and then your jaw is like
going crazy and shit.
Go on, do your best gurn.
[laughter]
What does the MDMA scene
look like in Dunedin
when it's like working right?
When it's working right?
Yeah, it's not bad.
I mean, you turn up to a party
and most people have huge
dilated pupils and they're
having a fun time, having a great time.
And that's generally the case.
There's partygoers and then there's
I guess, the music scene.
And then with the music scene,
it seems a bit more controlled
and there's a lot more education
around it.
But with partygoers,
especially in Dunedin,
there's this
sort of idea of like the ideal breatha.
If someone's
never heard the phrase breatha,
what does that mean?
So it's essentially it's like a spinoff from brother.
It's like a real Dunedin thing now, right?
So it's like scarfies
have graduated into breathas.
Yeah, yeah.
Do you think MDMA is like part of breatha culture?
I think it is a lot of the time.
I mean there's like
how many bongs you can smoke
and there's how much piss you can drink
and then there's also
how much gear you can take.
I think that's where, unfortunately,
a lot of like
the horrible stuff
can happen, like people
falling off roofs
and they're getting into
horrible accidents and things like that.
What's your experience
been with like MDMA
and the drug scene in Dunedin?
Yeah I've done it a wee bit
I've always had music friends, so...
I've known how to take it,
how often to take it.
You know, limit the negative side effects of
getting out of your mind.
But once I got actually more
into the music side of things,
the drugs kind of died off
because I wanted to be alert.
I wanted to understand the music.
Get to know people at gigs.
You see a few people
that are like doing it
every single week
and at quite a lot of things.
But I feel like for the most part,
most people I think that we've seen
have been like
just for the special occasions,
like festivals and stuff.
Well, half the time it's bath salts.
Almost a quarter of MDMA samples
tested last year
by drug checking organisation,
Know Your Stuff
were actually
synthetic cathinones,
commonly known as bath salts.
While the effect of bath salts
can be similar to MDMA,
they're much more potent.
This increases the chance of overdose
when users don't know
which substance they're taking.
Jai Whelan is a
PhD student
at Otago Uni
researching MDMA culture in Aotearoa.
He has interviewed
hundreds of young people
about their experiences.
So why do you think MDMA
use has been expanding in Dunedin?
For one thing,
I think it's just more
available in general.
But another thing, I think the popularity
or the increase
in popularity of electronic music
is really driving
a lot of MDMA use as well.
I've heard a lot of stories of people
that come to Dunedin,
didn't know
what drum and bass was,
first heard it [and]
thought they didn't like it,
get into MDMA a bit
and then they start to enjoy it.
What is a night out in Dunedin
look like with town full of MDMA?
It can be pretty hectic at times.
You know, people have a lot more energy.
They're staying up a lot later.
Town is staying fuller for longer.
You know, the majority of people
are still being pretty reasonable
and safe with their use.
There's always going to be a few people
that perhaps could do
a little bit more to reduce harm
or perhaps
just be a little bit
more educated on the topic
before they get into it.
MDMA works by flooding
your body with serotonin,
a chemical that regulates your mood.
When a brain is full of serotonin,
it often makes that person
feel elated, energetic and happy.
As well as heightened feelings
of empathy and connectedness with others.
For a moderate dose,
these effects last between
two and four hours.
For many people,
this is followed by a comedown,
a post-use crash
where the person
can feel depressed,
tired and anxious for days after use.
A theory for comedowns
is that MDMA depletes
your serotonin levels
and the comedown is the period
it takes to replenish.
But using MDMA too often has been associated
with negative long-term impacts
on memory, concentration and mood.
So if it is becoming more mainstream
but the education is still so bad,
like what are the impacts of that?
Like what are young people doing that
they wouldn't if they knew better?
Yeah, I think for the most part,
people should just be drug checking more.
They should be checking out
what their substance is.
People aren't very...
aren't staying hydrated sometimes.
Sometimes they drink a little bit
too much water.
And also just people
not really knowing,
you know, less can be more with MDMA.
They're just doing it too frequently
and not letting their body rest
and recuperate after some
big nights out.
There's a kind of rule
that's floated around the internet
for a good while now,
which is you
know, it's
at the absolute max recommended,
if it was to be recommended,
that three months
is a good amount of time to wait.
So only once every three months?
Once every three months.
However people are going to do it
more than that.
I've had people say 'you know
on a big week, we might do it
multiple times that week'
but then they're mindful
that on that last day,
it's barely working if at all.
So what what do you think is next?
Do you think like, Dunedin has hit
like peak MDMA?
I don't know.
I'd hate for us to end up
like the UK
where people are taking eccys at 14 and 15.
I hope that, you know, the uni and
promoters can make more of a push to
educate people.
Then it's really,
if you know all the facts,
you can make your own decision
and you know the consequences.