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Moon Rocks: The Best High on Earth

Moon rocks are all the rage. But can any drug be that good?

It all started with a conversation with a stranger at a bar. Talk of trance music led to talk of drugs, which led to talk of moon rocks, a controlled substance I'd never heard of. Turns out it contains MDMA, like ecstasy, but it's supposedly better. Much better. "Life-changing," folks described it at festivals and on various online forums. "It opened the window to a transcendental state of consciousness." Also: "The best high I've experienced."

"Moon rocks make you feel extraordinarily empathetic and ecstatic," says Goof, a retired ecstasy and acid dealer. (He requested his real name not be used because ... he's a retired drug dealer). "Basically, if you ever get offered a moon rock, absolutely take it, no questions asked."

Intrigued, I do what any other rational person would do. I set out to learn more.

First I have to get my terminology straight. MDMA is derived from safrole, an essential oil from the roots of the Cinnamomum parthenoxylon tree. This oil is synthesized with a variety of other chemicals and processed in a lab. It's the core component of the pill ecstasy, beloved for decades because it makes users profoundly happy by releasing serotonin and dopamine, which create feelings of love and intimacy. It makes raves better by inhibiting chemicals that cause depression and social anxiety.

You may also have heard of molly, which contains MDMA and is about as common as ecstasy these days. While performing with Avicii at Miami's Ultra Music Festival last March, even Madonna was talking about it. "How many people in this crowd have seen molly?" she asked. (She also titled her latest album MDNA.) Molly is sold as loose powder that comes in a bag or a gel capsule. You lick it off your fingertip.

Ecstasy and molly both are derived from MDMA rock crystals that have been crushed into powder. But they're often cut with various chemical adulterants — sometimes cheap and dangerous methamphetamines and shit like bath salts — that negate its purity.

Moon rocks, then, are crystals derived from MDMA synthesis that aren't cut with anything — essentially, pure MDMA. It is this purity that makes them both attractive and rare. They're typically cloudy, with a brown or yellowish hue, and they're ingested by breaking off a piece of the crystal and letting it dissolve on the tongue.

My curiosity piqued, I begin placing calls. First I talk to an expert.

"Moon rocks is a newer term," says Carissa Cornwell, national outreach director for DanceSafe, a nonprofit that travels to festivals providing drug testing and educational resources about safe recreational drug use. "Rocks are rarer than MDMA powder or pressed pills, but I saw more this last summer than in any summer past."

"Moon rocks are hard to find because the price-to-cost ratio isn't beneficial enough for drug dealers to sell them," adds an L.A.-based friend of a friend, who assures me he's not a drug dealer himself. "While the average street price of MDMA in L.A. hovers at $80 a gram, which breaks down to $8 a dose, moon rocks and sassafras [a high-grade form of molly] go for about $100 a gram, meaning that drug dealers can make more money by breaking rocks down into powder, cutting them with something, putting them in a pill capsule and charging $12 to $18 per pill."

Puts in Cornwell: "People definitely get excited when there are moon rocks around."

So, where the hell are they? The electronic dance music world, I speculate, so I ask around at various raves to see if anyone has a bead on some. (The ones who didn't look like narcs, that is.) Most just give me a confused look. One dude at Hard Summer, however, says this: "Taking moon rocks reminded me of the first time I took MDMA, because it had that really strong uppity sensation. Moon rocks really make you want to dance."

Meanwhile, my calls to an extended network of dealers, aficionados, club kids, Burners, hippies and others prove fruitless. So I turn to the Silk Road, an online marketplace trading in pot, hash, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and other illegal products. (It's a somewhat mysterious organization, but most of its vendors are in the United States and the United Kingdom.)

Launched early last year, the Silk Road employs a user-feedback system similar to Amazon's, which allows buyers to find dealers they trust. Satisfaction rates are surprisingly high; according to Forbes.com, the site boasts about $22 million in annual sales. Recently several top vendors have suddenly disappeared from the site, though, leaving some worried that a bust is imminent.

In any case, my first task was to download the required computer anonymity software. After choosing the username "JustForResearch" I found loads of moon rocks for sale, primarily from Germany and the Netherlands and typically labeled "MDMA crystals." Depending on quantity, prices ranged from 30 to 150 bitcoins, the international online currency that's supposedly untraceable. That's about $350 on the low end, as prices on the site are said to be inflated.

In the end, however, I couldn't pull the trigger. Call me skittish, but the idea of having drugs mailed to my house was too nerve-wracking.

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18 comments
kind2311
kind2311

everyone talking shit on your facts are right to do so. There is TON of misinformation in your article. Do some research before throwing out all these BS "facts"

chargawron
chargawron

"[Methylone] has almost the same potency of MDMA, but it does not produce the same effects. It has an almost antidepressant action, pleasant and positive, but not the unique magic of MDMA."

chargawron
chargawron

*****hit you dont have a clue what your talking about , Molly is just a nickname for mdma or mda , ecstacy is just a pill that is meant to have mdma and possibly other substances , 84% purity is the most you can get from an mdma synthesis FACT , FOR SOMETHING TO BE A CRYSTAL IT HAS TO BE PRETTY PURE. Not one batch of Molly I've had has been shit , if its shit its not Molly haha , I have ingested 3.5 gs between about 3 -5 people countless times and not once has anybody died I've swallowed half a g in one b4 ok I admit I puked but that was the rave not the Molly

chargawron
chargawron

And just to correct you , I can get 7 g of moon rock off the street for a fraction more than 25 a g so really now " price to cost not beneficial " you could theoretically double your money off that and I am already being made mo.ey out of , the guy I get it offs breing made money out of ,the chain goes on

chargawron
chargawron

Try researching that u dumb ass mother fucker u just wasted a part of your life to have wrong information and mis educate the stupid who trust in the internet . If u wanna no about mdma then research Alexander shulgin

chargawron
chargawron

And just to top it off , the thought if mail ordering drugs to your home makes you nervous , your probably like the worst person that could ever have written this type of article , in my eyes if you haven't experienced it time and time again keep your nose out cause you don't have a clue your trying to educate people with wrong information , I'm 19 and Ive been using e and mdma since 13 becoming fascinated at a young age I have researched into the drug A LOT and could probably tell you more than most, ever heard of isomers ? Yea you can get different effects from different batches and colours depending on the ratio of r to s ISOmer giving a spectrum of trippy/loved up to buzzy can't get to sleep sorta shit ,

chargawron
chargawron

Look . Your an idiot for writing this article you dont have a clue , not once has mdma ever come in powder , unless its merely the last remnants of broken crystal from constant breaking down of a bigger block , or if its not mdma and u get ripped off , moon rock is just a term for mdma , remembering that your asking people that are new to mdma , the drug is new relatively only coming out in crystal after people realised ther was a market for uncut version of pills , in the past 13 ish years , so your asking people that probably dont have a clue and are probably just experiencing a cleaner version of the drug giving a cleaner fealing , compared to the well known 90 era where highs where good come downs out of thus world , clean mdma you shouldn't feel a shitty horrible feeling you should maybe get a bit light headed for a while after or experience a dim after buzz but not once have I ever had a come down compatible to one ive had from ecstacy pills

th3k3rston3
th3k3rston3

Wow. So much bad info, the article and the comments. The article itself is horrible. Just fueling the fire of misinformation and negative stereotype.  Buckle up...

There are two different kinds of x: MDA and MDMA.

MDA and MDMA can both come from sass, and typically do. They carry the sweet smell of licorice, and have a bitter, short lived taste with MDA having more of a "bite". The higher the purity, the more subtle both taste and smell.

If you could ingest a pure, pill sized chunk of either (100% purity is not a solid) you WOULD NOT DIE. The ld50 for both is extremely high, somewhere close to 80mgs per kg of body weight.

Moonrocks are NOT x. I understand the term is used loosely and some use this toidentify high purity MDMA. However, it is methylone or bk-MDMA. 

Methylone is also derived from sass, has many of the same characteristics of MDMA. Smell and appearance. Taste is different.

I understand it is hard for those not involved with the electronic music culture to understand what we are subjected to, legally and socially, through the music/drug connection. An example could be older heads that listened to the Dead. Same thing. Please understand the negativity thrown our way due to this, and please try to treat this with respect. Unless it is absolutely necessary, please don't connect the two when writing/talking. If you found some great dope, and that is your obvious theme, specifics concerning where you found them are irrelevant.



glyph02
glyph02

That is a BS ignorant article.

There is only one actual drug. MDMA or 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine.  
Ecstasy, Molly, Moon Rocks - they're all MDMA.  Maybe those names mean something to someone.  Like Ecstasy is MDMA mixed with speed, or Molly is MDMA mixed with DXM, but those are not standardized or known or anything.  It's all meaningless.  

I'm actually scared about the moon rock name.  If people get their hands on pure MDMA and eat a pill sized chunk, it could kill them.

Also, in the article, he says:"When your MDMA is cut with crap, you're more likely to experience jaw tightness, headaches and post-usage depression. This is often called the "terrible Tuesdays," as it can take a full day or more for the bummer effect to set in."
This is so ignorant.  Those are side-effects of the MDMA and not the adulterants.  Post roll with 5-HTP and pre-roll with anti-oxidants for neuro-protection to help alleviate.  

chargawron
chargawron

*****hit you dont have a clue what your talking about , Molly is just a nickname for mdma or mda , ecstacy is just a pill that is meant to have mdma and possibly other substances , 84% purity is the most you can get from an mdma synthesis FACT , FOR SOMETHING TO BE A CRYSTAL IT HAS TO BE PRETTY PURE. Not one batch of Molly I've had has been shit , if its shit its not Molly haha , I have ingested 3.5 gs between about 3 -5 people countless times and not once has anybody died I've swallowed half a g in one b4 ok I admit I puked but that was the rave not the Molly

pussyrocker5000
pussyrocker5000

FREE SPEECH MUTHER FUCKERS.

Quiet Down Kids! Unlike HelpingYouOut and company, every person on earth knows "EDM" is synonymous with noobs on drugs and the DEA has known about SilkRoad for.. Jesus.. since it's inception. 

SWIM has been your shawmen for 15+ years and enjoyed the articles open spirit. MDMA shouldn’t be illegal (in California it actually isn’t) and use of recreational drugs shouldn’t be clandestine.. We need more non-violent media like this. 

-Anon

P.S.

If you kids don't like it.. get the fuck of the internet.. 

pancake
pancake

Did you do any research other than chatting at bar. Moon rock =Uncrushed MDMA nothing more.

Sassafras=MDA, a very different drug than MDMA. 

Just bad shock journalism, hope you got your 15 minutes.

HelpingYouOut
HelpingYouOut like.author.displayName 1 Like

let me list the ways your article is a piece of shit and you shouldn't be allowed to be a journalist:

1. you say your going to get your terminology straight and then you get it wrong. i'm not even going to bother to explain to you what you got wrong, do some real investigative journalism and figure it out

2. do you even like edm? it seems like a very low level thing to find a scene and decide to pinpoint only a negative aspect (the drugs) and focus on that and go from show to show asking people for drugs. 

3. on that last point, please don't stereotype my culture and my people. we do other things than take drugs, most of us have created a strong family through edm and the music alone makes us feel connected, we don't need the drugs.

4. you don't want to mention burning man but you mention silk road? i don't get the argument behind that. also please don't mention silk road on la weekly. it doesn't give you cool points, it just makes you seem like an asshole. also, how in the world did they let you into burning man?! god i would have hoped they had sniffed that you were a poser and ban you from going in.

5. i suggest you do some soul searching (what you were supposed to be doing at burning man) and realize if this is how you want to get ahead in your career. when edm becomes popular, what other community will you stereotype?

 

Guerro
Guerro

Messing with your serotonin and dopamine levels via unknown/untested street drugs is just not a good idea.  Advocating it in a "newspaper" is downright irrresponsible.  But this is a newsgroup that knowingly aids the human trafficking trade via backpage so we can't expect too much..

Melanie
Melanie

Right, and you're just as likely to get some joker putting a wharfarin rock in your mouth. Don't endanger your future and your future kids by taking designer anything.

poopydoop
poopydoop

 @Melanie Moon Rocks are not designer drugs, it's mdma, and it's been around for decades. Designer drugs, bath salts, K2, spice and all that shit is terrible, and dangerous to yourself and others, and bad for your health. Moon rocks, however, can be a very therapeutic experience in careful moderation. It teaches you to be more in tune with your emotions, and feel more compassionate towards, and comfortable with others. Bath salts make you kill your grandma with an ice-pick or decapitate your dog with chicken wire and shit like that. Not all drugs are bad, but some are, so people form a negative bias towards them. I believe in a free drug trade market economy for America. If the good one's are legal, then people won't bother seeking out the illegal ones that are bad.

philanthropic
philanthropic like.author.displayName 1 Like

Remove the silk road aspect of this article immediately. The road does not need this publicity. Yes, the DEA is well aware of these transgressions, but it's inciting a riot of the general public through the media which would put the fire under their asses, and jeopardize access to the road for patrons such as myself. Simply put, we all know the road exists, just don't fucking talk about it, and DON'T write a damn article about it. Come on, seriously?

 

For people like me, I'm going to get my drugs regardless of the availability of the silk road, and I'd rather be getting pure shit from a reputable dealer than getting mugged by a dealer selling cut product that will be harmful to my health.

VerucaSalt
VerucaSalt

Most "moon rocks" I've seen are the result of some form of powdered MDMA getting too hot and melting and then when it dries out again, it clumps together. I would be willing to be that 99% of the "moon rocks" being sold in the U.S. at shows is just this melted molly. 

 

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