Brexit helping cause harmful increase in fake ecstasy, study warns

Covid and crackdowns also blamed as researchers find half of pills sold as MDMA at festivals in England contained none of the drug

Summer festivalgoers are being warned that an unprecedented shift" in the drug market caused by a combination of Brexit, Covid lockdowns and police operations against supply chains has led to a sharp and potentially harmful increase in fake MDMA.

Criminologists and chemists have found that almost half of substances sold as MDMA (ecstasy) at festivals in England last year did not contain any of the drug.