Q: If the dosage of an ecstacy pill is halved, meaning I take half a pill instead of a whole one, is it the AMOUNT OF TIME the effects are felt that is lessened, or is it the INTENSITY OF THE EFFECTS themselves that is lessened?
A: The short answer is both. Reducing the dosage of MDMA will reduce both the duration and the intensity of effects.
A half dose of MDMA gets metabolized over a similar period of time to a full dose, but the standard tapering of effects over time will reduce the effects to a sub-noticeable level sooner. Also, the lower the dose is, the more likely duration is to be affected. Where this point is varies depending on the individual and their metabolism, but it seems that in the 40-60 mg range, duration is usually noticeably shorter than with a full (~80-120 mg) dose.
Interestingly, increasing dosage past the 'full dose' level doesn't seem to increase duration much. So, for most people, a 200mg dose lasts just slightly longer than a 100mg dose.
Ecstasy tablets on the market range all over the place in terms of how much MDMA they contain (if any). For pure tablets, they seem to range from 40-120mg, with the average somewhere in the 70-90mg range. Though most of the recent quantitative testing has been done in Europe, so U.S. pills could be different.
How dose influences the intensity of effects is again very specific to the individual. While some people find a half dose (40-60 mg) to be a very pleasant experience, others find that if they take less than 50mg they not only get less positive effects, but they are more aware of some of the speedy side effects. Again, where exactly this point is, varies from person to person.
Any individual's response to 50 mg of MDMA will depend on many factors: the number of times s/he has taken MDMA, how s/he metabolizes, body weight, what hir intention is, what the setting is, what other substances s/he may have taken, what meds s/he may be on, etc. (See the MDMA Effects Chart for a list of common effects)
Another issue that comes into play here is the concept of boosting (taking more mdma a while after the first dose). Current research strongly suggests that boosting with MDMA is likely to increase possible MDMA-related neurotoxicity. It has even been suggested that it may be less damaging to take 200 mg of MDMA at one time than to take 100 mg and another 100 mg 2-4 hours later.
It's always important to remember that Ecstasy tablets may contain any number of adulterant substances. Taking a 1/2 tablet which contains DXM, amphtemine, caffeine, MDA, or PMA could result in a variety of durations and/or intensities.
