Confessions of an Ecstasy user

I do not smoke. I never drink. But recently, together with a highflying advertising exec, a leading social worker and a medical doctor - all model citizens, all of us with firsts from Cambridge University - I was out taking pills. Which has made reading the newspapers over the past few days a strange experience. There is, out there, a drug called Ecstasy. According to David Blunkett, this "can, and does, kill unpredictably, and there is no such thing as a safe dose".

The Home Secretary believes that people who use or sell this evil drug should face years in prison. This is odd, because I - along with about 500,000 people around my age (I'm 23) - use a drug with the same name each weekend. But the Ecstasy I know and love has never "killed unpredictably".

It is true that a tiny handful of people have died. Each of these deaths is, of course, a horrific tragedy for the family involved, but we need some perspective here. Fewer people die because of Ecstasy than perfectly legal alcohol. That's fairly widely known, despite our hysterically anti-Ecstasy press. But did you know that more people, in fact, die working out on an exercise bike or because of allergic reactions to nectarines each year than because of Ecstasy?

Clearly, David Blunkett needs to be informed of the basic facts about one of Britain's most popular drugs. If he fancies trying one, I'll be happy to take him to a decent club. But in the meantime, I'll try to explain why so many of us use the drug weekly.

Ecstasy is a nonaddictive Class-A drug, first synthesised as MDMA - a white crystalline solid - in Germany in 1898. It has a distinct, bitter taste and is usually taken in a pill or capsule. Usually, I take a full pill (which costs about £12) if I'm going out clubbing. Within 20 to 40 minutes I'd start to "come up" - the drug sends rushes to the brain, which can be, quite literally, an ecstatic experience. The effect is known as being "loved up" and I find it simultaneously blissfully happy and hectic. My heart beats faster, and I feel a lot of energy and excitement. I feel an irresistible urge to do things, especially dancing. I am such a horrendously bad mover that it is the only time I can suspend my embarrassment and take to the dance floor.

The drug makes me feel extraordinarily "at one" - almost affectionate - with the people around me, even large crowds. It's very easy to bond with people when "loved up". Perhaps, given all the blood feuds running through the Cabinet, a group Ecstasy experience would be useful. Tony and Gordon would be hugging and apologising for all those back-stabbing briefings in no time.

Many of the problems David Blunkett is rightly worried about, like yobbish street violence, are actually reduced by Ecstasy. It is almost impossible to be aggressive when you are loved up. If people took Ecstasy - rather than alcohol - in every pub in Britain, we would have no violence at all on Friday and Saturday nights.

But what about problems associated with Ecstasy? It is often argued by anti-Ecstasy campaigners that the drug has dangerous side effects, such as depression, memory loss or paranoia.

In fact, several prestigious scientific magazines have recently shown that the research which suggests this damage is flawed.

There is no reliable evidence at all for long-term damage - in sharp contrast to cigarettes, alcohol and fatty foods. Harmful shortterm effects appear to be mainly due to either taking bad pills (which may have been mixed with other substances), or misuse regarding the Ecstasy pills themselves.

If Ecstasy were legalised and sold with clear guidelines, Leah Betts would be alive today. I'm sorry if it seems insensitive to her family to point this out, but if we do not, there will be another Leah soon.

She died because she did not know how to take Ecstasy. She had heard the advice from friends that you need to drink lots of water. But, because of the then-Conservative government's policy of not properly informing teenagers and Ecstasy consumers, she did not know that this applies only if you have been dancing an awful lot, in a hot and crowded club, and therefore sweated so much you might dehydrate.

Leah sat down, didn't move much, and drank extremely large amounts of water. The consultant who treated her said she was effectively suffering from "water intoxication". Misinformation about drug use killed her, not the drug itself. This was horrible, tragic - but entirely preventable. Legalisation would make clear instructions and safety guidelines possible.

More importantly, legalisation would take Ecstasy out of the hands of criminal gangs. I know many decent Left-leaning people who won't buy any coffee but Fairtrade, in their zeal to support ethical trade, but they are forced to give money indirectly to hideous criminal syndicates (who often have links to international terrorism, child porn and protection rackets) when they buy their drugs. Blunkett has it in his power to bankrupt these foul groups overnight by allowing Ecstasy to be sold over the counter in offlicenses and clubs. Legalised Ecstasy would be taxable and help pay for schools and hospitals.

The alternative to all this is to tell me and hundreds of thousands of other young people that we are criminals. This makes the law into a joke because it is entirely unenforceable. If you arrested and convicted all users, the prison population of Britain would explode. Surely it is time to end this farce and introduce safe, legal Ecstasy?