Ecstasy Calling Card

Most places in the UK didn't encounter ecstasy until about 1987. In Cardiff the drug was being peddled much earlier than that. Calling cards urging young hedonists to: TRY ECSTASY THE ULTIMATE HIGH, were disseminated in a Cardiff nightclub during Christmas 1985. The person handing out the cards, also distributed leaflets and even a 22 page pamphlet (!) extolling the virtues of the drug. One eyewitness told the local press: "He was wearing a dark pin-striped suit as he walked around handing out his leaflets. He was aged 45-50 and had receding hair. Everybody thought he stuck out like a sore thumb but he just carried on handing them out. He was carrying a pile of them. He said he didn't have the drug on him but wanted us to read the leaflets. He would come back later if people wanted any. Quite a few didn't want anything to do with it - but  a few people were a bit curious to see if it was as good as he was saying." Apparently Cardiff was one of the earliest places in the UK in which the drug was seized. As far as I can remember just about every other drug was available on the Cardiff club scene in 1985 but I don't recall anybody selling ecstasy at that time. Maybe I just went to the wrong nightclubs.