Every Tuesday morning, Christina Baker takes the 25-minute bus  ride from her one-bedroom apartment to the Friendship House in  San Francisco’s Mission District. It’s become a ritual over the past eight months, a time when she can zone out and reflect on life.

 “I get my best thinking done on the bus,” she says. “Everyone’s  heading somewhere, but they just keep to themselves, so you still  feel like you have alone time to just think.”

 Baker is diminutive in stature, standing just over five feet tall, with  chalky skin, cerulean eyes and shoulder-length hair the color of dark  oak. She’s wise for her 20 years, but her tender voice and square-  framed glasses (for corrective nearsightedness), give her a girlish aura, and on any given day she could easily be mistaken for an  ordinary USF student.

Arriving at the Friendship House, however, Baker reaffirms to both  herself and the dozens of other women attending the center’s  weekly Narcotics Anonymous meeting, “I am Christina Baker and I am an addict.”

Early on a January morning last year, Christina Baker thought that she was dead. She woke up in the intensive-care unit of the San Francisco General Hospital after suffering an Ecstasy and Xanax-induced tetanic seizure. She was terrified and still having residual side effects, including tremors and hypothermia.

“I just remember thinking that it was like some weird out-of-body experience,” Baker says. “It was almost like the movies, where you wake up and see the light and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, am I dead?’ But it was just the hospital lights, and when I realized that I wasn’t, I just started crying hysterically. It was the scariest moment of my life.”

During the previous evening Baker had been hanging out at a friend’s house snorting Xanax and taking MDMA orally. After nearly three hours of doing both drugs in consistent stretches, she began to feel her heart race and her hands and feet tighten. Soon her entire body was in spasm. Her panicked friend called 911.

“It’s hard to remember everything about when it happened, but the biggest thing that I remember was the pain,” she says. “It was like having the worst charley horse ever all over my body, not to mention that I was still hallucinating from the drugs themselves.”

Christina Baker grew up middle class in San Mateo, California. The biggest challenge in her life was preparing to enter UC Davis in the fall. There were no horrors in her childhood: no ugly divorce, sexual abuse, school bullying. She was normal and she was happy. But she was also like so many other kids in America, eager to experiment with the new synthetic drugs permeating the party scene. They promised a good time. They could also mean instant death. 

“There’s this big misconception that like you have to be from a terrible neighborhood or whatever to use stuff like Xanax or Ecstasy,” she said. “But the reality is the people doing Molly are people just like me; teens and college kids who’re just trying to ‘party’ and what not. All this stuff starts off as partying, and then you look up and it’s gone too far.” 

MDMA generally comes in a powder form and is frequently ingested as capsules. Its name is a shortened version of the drug’s active ingredient 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Its more common street name, molly, refers to its composition as a pure MDMA molecule, While ecstasy, which also contains MDMA, is often contaminated with anything from caffeine to PCP. 

The drug was originally synthesized in 1912 by German chemist Anton Köllisch as a method of stopping abnormal bleeding. By the mid-1980s the use of MDMA as a psychedelic party drug had spread across the United Kingdom, resulting in its classification as a controlled substance. Despite its outlaw status, it continues to grow in popularity worldwide. According the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), there was a 123 percent increase in the number of emergency room visits involving MDMA taken alone or combined with other drugs from 2004 to 2009 in the U.S. The common age group of users is 16 to 24.

“For these kids who are using it they’ll probably argue that [MDMA] is OK because it’s ‘pure,’ ” says Russell Poland a research pharmacologist with the UCLA School of Medicine. “However, the larger issue is that the chemical in MDMA was never meant to be used recreationally, but it’s being consumed in social settings like a normal glass of wine.” 

On average, the cost of the MDMA powder is between $100 to $120 for a gram, and though the consumption often varies according to the user, the average dose is around 150mg and lasts from three to six hours. 

Fans of molly say it offers a “relaxing” high that amplifies the senses, while heightening the body’s reaction to lights and sounds. However, like many drugs, even the purest of MDMA can elevate heart rates, cause hypothermia, seizures and, in the worst-case scenarios, cardiac arrest. In addition, MDMA also diminishes the body of some of its neurotransmitters, causing depression in the hours after using the drug. 

“Synthetic drugs are a tricky thing because unlike natural drugs like cocaine, they’re chemically treated, so reactions can really vary according to a user’s body make-up,” Poland says. “These are man-made drugs, and it’s difficult to do anything but list possibilities, because the reactions are extremely subjective.”

Another major issue is false advertising: the marketing of some MDMA as pure when it is, in fact, laced with other drugs. In early September 2013, the Electric Zoo Music Festival, which was held at New York City’s Randall’s Island, was cancelled after two local concertgoers, ages 20 and 22, suffered fatal MDMA-related seizures just hours before the show’s third and final day.

Reports stated that in addition to MDMA, the deceased concertgoers had amphetamine (a drug commonly mixed with ecstasy) in their systems and were extremely dehydrated. The New York City Health Department says that the cases are far from unusual. It’s estimated that there’s an average of forty cases of MDMA or ecstasy overdoses annually, and the epidemic is consistently growing.

“That happens a lot,” Baker says. “Drug dealers aren’t the most honest people in the world, so of course they’ll tell you anything for the sake of getting you to buy it, and kids are out here buying what they think is molly and it’s really just garbage.”  

When 20-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus released her single, “We Can’t Stop” in July 2013, the Internet was flooded with commentary about the song. Not just because of Cyrus’ provocative twerking antics, but for one lyric in particular: “la da di da di, dancing with Molly...” 

Immediately the producer of the “We Can’t Stop” went on the defensive saying that the lyrics really stated, “dancing with Miley.” Later on, those claims were discounted though when the singer herself did a revealing interview the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper.

"It depends who's doing what. If you're aged ten [the lyric is] Miley, if you know what I'm talking about then you know. I just wanted it to be played on the radio and they've already had to edit it so much," Cyrus told the Daily Mail. "I don't think people have a hard time understanding that I've grown up. You can Google me and you know what I'm up to -- you know what that lyric is saying."

As of late, the average listener can hear MDMA referenced in countless hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM) songs and the drug has become a staple at music festivals. 

Even music icons are talking about the use of molly. In March 2012, singer Madonna attended Miami’s annual Ultra Music Festival; another showcase for electronic dance music.

While introducing another artist, she asked the crowd, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” Although the crowd reportedly erupted with cheers, other artists weren’t as happy with the move.

Grammy nominated EDM producer Deadmau5 responded to Madge’s provocative inquiry via Twitter.

"Very classy there madonna. ‘HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???’ such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra," he tweeted after the show. "quite the f'n philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! fucking cant smack my head hard enough right now."

Later on, after being questioned about the relationship between molly and EDM, he tweeted, “I'd give up my entire career to remove the fucking rampant stupidity thats plagued my favorite type of music in an INSTANT.”

Baker shares similar ideas when it comes to the connection between molly and music.

“It bugs me when artists like Miley Cyrus come out singing about Molly without even considering that there are people affected by these drugs in a terrible way,” Baker says. “People are really dying from using them and it’s not just about fun and music and dancing. It’s a serious issue.”

For anyone over the age of 50, the issue surrounding MDMA is tragically familiar. During the late 1960’s, the drug heroin was massively present within popular culture. Its was heavily represented throughout the music of the world’s biggest rock stars including The Rolling Stones and James Taylor. Even worse by the year 1970, 1 in 20 Americans had either used heroin or knew someone who had used the drug.

Heroin is also the hardest drug to quit with a 2.89 out of 3 dependency rate for its users. The drug acts as an endorphin in the body giving the user an elevated mood. 

Therefore when you inject heroin, you are basically training your brain to make you crave it. Combined with awful withdrawal symptoms (that are potentially deadly) and high fat solubility and you have the most addictive drug in the world. To date, it’s estimated that 23 percent of people who have ever used heroin become addicts.

“I’ve been around for a while and seeing the spread of [drugs like MDMA], is extremely reminiscent of the heroin epidemic,” said Anna Rose Childress, a research psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. “Other than marijuana, I think this is the first time time since the heroin era that one particular drug has appealed to such a youthful demographic. 

Childress is has been doing research on the mental science behind drug addiction for more than 20 years and is currently doing directing heroin-related MRI research at the university.

“The difference not is that there’s a social stigma attached to heroin that just doesn’t exist with MDMA,” Childress says. “What’s more alarming is that not only is it accessible, but it’s actually being promoted throughout the entertainment industry.”

However, even heroin has transitioned into the synthetic form. A new chemically manufactured drug called “krokodil” has emerged, combining the worst of both drugs. Its active ingredient is desomorphine and it’s nearly 8 to 10 times more potent than standard morphine. Media outlets have been referring to krokodil as the  the “flesh-eating drug’ because another side effect is immediate damage to the users injection site’s blood vessels. 

Once krokodil is injected, the drug causes causing flesh to rot from the inside out. The gruesome sores that some users develop resemble crocodile skin, which is how the drug acquired its nickname name. The typical life expectancy of a krokodil user is about two to three years, according to the DEA and although there are a vastly limited number of cases in the United States, like the aforementioned drugs, the numbers are sure to grow.

“You think you’ve seen it all and then a drug like krokodil comes along and completely surprises you with how horrific its effects are,” Russell Poland says. “You just never know with these things so why even risk your life trying?” 

A sentiment which Christina now takes to heart. These days, she’s living a far less “risky” lifestyle. She works part-time at a local clothing store and is trying to get back into school. Drug fueled party nights are gone completely, replaced with Saturdays spent at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

Reach Staff Reporter Courtney M. Fowler here, follow her on Twitter here