Research will use a fictitious MDMA store in Utrecht

Imagine this: the Dutch government regulates MDMA. What would sales then look like? Should you be able to buy pills everywhere, or only on prescription? In the MDMA store, a public experiment by drug museum Poppi in collaboration with Utrecht University researchers, the visitors are the ones who decide.

In the fictitious MDMA store—where no actual drugs are handed out—drug researchers from various faculties of Utrecht University examine the conditions under which Dutch people would be prepared to buy MDMA if it were legal.

Serious game about MDMA retail

Visitors play a "serious game" developed by Utrecht researchers in collaboration with Poppi, and test three different MDMA retail points: an MDMA specialist shop (store), a club (nightlife) and a pharmacy (medical). The visitors are in control and can specify what they believe to be the best way to go about MDMA retail, based on experiments and questions. Should there be an age limit? And how many pills can you buy? What about marketing? Will there be advertisements about MDMA everywhere?

Relationship between environment and regulation

The researchers themselves will not be present in the stores, but will collect and analyze the data collected through the game and interviews. The main question is how the design of the environment relates to the design of the regulation. The results show in which setting—medical, store or nightlife—and under which conditions the participants would be willing to buy MDMA.

The MDMA store will be open from 15 July to 29 September at Vinkenburgstraat 1-3 in Utrecht.