Of 102 Dublin-area (Ireland) opiate users (55 men, 47 women, mean age 20 +/- 2.7 yerars) recruited through contact with opiate abuse treatment centers, 92 reported having ever used ecstasy. Respondents were all selected if they were no older than 32 years old. Of those reporting ecstasy use, 68 reported smoking heroin ("chasing the dragon") to ease ecstasy after-effects ("come-down"). 36 of 68 heroin smokers who had used ecstasy reported smoking heroin for the first time to ease coming down from ecstasy. Stability of heroin smoking was strong, meaning people did not switch to injecting until an average of 3 y of smoking. Age of onset for illicit drug use, and not ecstasy use per se, was found to be predictive of transition from heroin smoking to injection use. This paper appears to be a follow-up study (with a different sample) to an earlier publication by the same authors (Gervin et al. 1998).