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As an increasing number of European youngsters lurch towards far-right political views, are the themes of their party drugs following. Or, is this just another obscure trend?
When one mentions ecstasy, what immediately springs to mind: perhaps love, euphoria, or overwhelming feelings of empathy. What isnโt typically conjured is thoughts of genocide, hate, and fascism.
Why then are party drugs across Europe increasingly showing iconography related to Nazis and other extremist groups? Is it merely edgy marketing, or is there something more sinister at play?
The first batch of pills displaying such symbolism โ in this case an โSSโ โ was seized in Switzerland in 2019. A few years later, LSD tabs with swastikas started appearing and at the end of 2023, Dutch police recovered a huge bag of ecstasy stamped with the Imperial Eagle.
While such instances were obviously disturbing, grim, and idiotic (I could go on), the circulation of these particular party drugs was thought to be a โlimited phenomenon,โ as described by psychotics drug researcher Dr Zoe Dubus.
In 2024, however, her analysis points to a vast growth in their production and it appears we can now discount the notion that one-or-two fascist drug barons were to blame.
Sooo they making drugs in Europe and putting extremist symbols on them. Like the far right is taking promotion wayyy too seriously atp. X pills with a nazi symbol on them? wtf is going on in the 2020s frfr
โ Ming/ Story of Kill Bill 3 (@QtrWaterClassic) July 3, 2024
โIn early 2024, several tablets with the Nazi eagle and swastika were analysed, indicating an increase in production,โ Dubus recalled in a conversation with VICE. โWhat’s more, the pills are all different in quality and composition: 2C-B, MDMA, and a strange mixture which seems to indicate that one of the batches was made by a very amateur chemist.โ
The abundant chemical diversity, all emblazoned with the same pill design, hint at several different manufacturers being involved at once, she argued. The Netherlands, in particular, was highlighted as a major hotspot for MDMA and a possible source.
Nazi regalia isnโt just exclusive to ecstasy and 2C-B, by the way. In 2023, Peruvian narcotics officers secured 58 kilos of cocaine destined for Belgium and each block displayed a bright red swastika flag on the front.
Just in-case the hateful message was too subtle, the word โHitlerโ was also pressed into the surface of the powder itself. The haulโs street value was estimated at around $3 million USD.
