Scientists admit: we were wrong about Ecstasy damage on the brain

Observer ^ | 09/07/03 | Jo Revill

[AntiGuv]

I am utterly shocked, stunned, and saddened - deeply, deeply saddened - that drug warriors would lie to the people in such an extreme fashion!

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

But it emerged this weekend that the vials of liquid did not contain ecstasy. Instead, the animals received a dose of methamphetamine, or speed

WTF??? They were allegedly doing a study on ecstasy, but the subjects were given speed instead? Can somebody help me here?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Every drug on the government hit list causes brain damage and psychosis.

Thousands of drugs made by pharm. companies, like Ritalin, are deemed benign- beyond question.

What a joke.

[Mr. Mojo]

He said yesterday that his laboratory made 'a simple human error', adding: 'We're scientists, not chemists.'

Aren't chemists considered....... oh, never mind.

[Mr. Mojo]

They were allegedly doing a study on ecstasy, but the subjects were given speed instead? Can somebody help me here?

To quote them: "We're scientists, not chemists."

[bluefish]

Note to self: Ignore all studies and scientist warnings about various substances for at least 1 1/2 years, to be sure the substance in question was actually the substance being studied!

[July 4th]

Big screw up by the scientists, although I will say that their conclusions are still probably correct, at least in my experience. I have a friend who has picked up some of the stuff at clubs only a few times. He's had to see a doctor for recurring headaches, and complains of short-term memory loss. Bottom line, the stuff screws with your head, and the more you use it, the more screwed up you will get.

[mlmr]

Not true. I work an inpatient psych unit and we have a constant stream of young adult clubbers who have burnt their brains out on club drugs. They are a sad lot with flat affects, lost IQs, and an inabilty to much of anything. They move to monitered group homes. I think that they should be sent to schools to show kids how awesome drugs really are......

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, which attracts millions of dollars of research funding from both government and companies."

Uh-Oh. Now they will have to furiously conduct other rigged 'studies' to make sure that the latest drugs that the govt deems illegal are shown to cause brain damage, disease, death, psychosis, etc. in order to maintain their multimillion dollar govt payoffs.

[AntiGuv]

Questions are already being asked about whether the lead researcher, George Ricaurte, was inherently biased against the drug.

Uh-Oh. You should've read the very next sentence so you wouldn't have made such a foolish remark...

[At _War_With_Liberals]

I know at least 50 people who have taken hallucinogenic drugs, including psychiatrists, that have never experienced any problems.

If they are taking it all the time, that is a different story. If you drink every day for a year, you are going to have mental problems.

I cannot say that you are wrong completely, but I CAN say that Ecstasy is a scapegoat too often, used by the system to blame teen problems on. Its so easy...blame the ecstasy- the kid is sick and has a reason to be screwed up outside of himself, and doctors make an easy diagnosis.

[AntiGuv]

Whoops! I just realized I totally misread your remark. Now I'm the one who made the foolish remark! Sorry..

[tricky_k_1972]

Something else here also, I'm sure the "dosage" levels for speed and ecstasy are somewhat different. I wonder how much speed compared to body weight they gave the poor monkeys

[AntiGuv]

Time for me to retire from FR for the evening...

[At _War_With_Liberals]

No problem.

[AntiGuv]

Thanks, it was idiocy on my part. I'd blame the beer but I was just reading too fast.. Thought you'd said the opposite of what you were saying. And, with that, I'm outta here!

[Khurkris]

"Uhhh...My bad....it just made everyone act stupid. We can't prove it actually made them stupider"

[mlmr]

There is a differential diagnosis to be made between drug induced brain damage and other psychosis and illness. Of course these are kids who club drugged early and often. I know many professionals who have used hallucinogens too. Intermintently and safely....although Timothy Leary proves my point about too much drugs....heh heh.

[GladesGuru]

Worse than lying? The supplier mis-labeled the drug. Such things do occur. To expect the donning of a white lab coat to somehow endow the wearer with infallability is naive.

Mistakes occur.

Without further proof of deliberate acts, the story to date is no more than an unfortunate result of an error which would be unlikey to be prevented by reasonable lab protocols.

Mislabelled reagents/drugs do cause erronious results. Live with it.

Embrace uncertainty - Heisenburg! Sorry 'bout that one, but I couldn't resist.