Irish people love the sesh. This has been proved yet again by the latest Global Drugs Survey (GDS), which found that Irish people were using MDMA for nearly 15 days across the year, with Scottish people coming in close behind at 14.5 days.

Just under 120,000 people took part in the GDS this year, from 50 countries. Notable absences were Japan, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, who the GDS are still attempting to reach out to.

The founder and CEO of GDS, Dr Adam Winstock, told Dazed: "What I think is important is that most people [worldwide] were using [MDMA] 10 or less times a year, which is smart.

"And for the first time in a while the Irish did not top every drinking item – that is good. There is so much wonderful culture in Ireland it's good to see it's not just about alcohol."

He also admitted that a bigger sample size might have changed the outcome. "Our Irish sample this year was small so I would not say we have the evidence to support them being the most frequent users. Could be due to sampling more clubbers here for example."

The GDS managed to survey just 500 people in Ireland, compared to 36,000 in Germany and 10,100 in the USA (although of course there are proportionally less people living in Ireland).

"I'm a bit surprised by the stat!" said Neil, 26, who lives in Dublin and has used MDMA in the past. "I thought we would be high up there in European charts, but would have also thought there were definitely others above us worldwide."

Neil used MDMA infrequently until he had a bad experience. "I probably never should have done it because I have epilepsy and the next morning after taking it one time I had a panic attack, and then my friend heard me having a seizure and had to call an ambulance."

The survey also found that MDMA is the second most commonly used drug worldwide after cannabis, minus alcohol, tobacco and caffeine products.

It said that the use of MDMA crystals and powder has become increasingly popular, and that there had been a rise in the content of MDMA in ecstasy pills in Europe, with up to 300mg MDMA per pill.

The GDS also mentions new study findings which show that the use of a single dose of MDMA (75mg-125mg) is relatively safe, but state that using the drug with alcohol and other drugs can be very risky. 

Last year a #StartWithHalf campaign asked MDMA users to take things slow.