Ecstasy: The Love Drug?

Mark Hobson will spend the rest of his life in prison because, to quote his own excuse, he was high on Ecstasy, alcohol and other drugs when he murdered four people.

First was his wife, whom he hit in the head 17 times with a hammer. Quoting from the Guardian:

Hobson told police he had taken a cocktail of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol and could remember nothing about his girlfriend's death. He claimed to have lost a day and a half and come round with a bloodstained hammer in his hand.

Later, he lured his sister-in-law into a trap, molested her viciously, and killed her. Then he murdered an elderly couple in a town 25 miles away.

Ecstasy frequently shows up in the blood or the confessions of people who have murdered deliberately or killed by causing car accidents. Admittedly, Hobson only blamed drugs for the first murder, and admittedly, he is not your typical designer drug user. But the myth that Ecstasy is all about love and good feelings is just that: A myth. Ecstasy is just a drug, not some magic potion. It alters the brain chemistry, and that can, and periodically does, lead to all sorts of unintended consequences.