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But the scientists who conducted that research have retracted it, saying they mistakenly administered methamphetamine, not ecstasy, to the primates they studied.

Great job overseeing that experiment! Wonder how much grant money they received? So can we presume that "meth" causes Parkinson's-like brain damage?

"So can we presume that "meth" causes Parkinson's-like brain damage?"

The "research community" generally thinks so. There has been lots of (better run) experiments with methamphetamine. High-dose studies show dopamine receptor damage, parkinson's - like problems, and other unpleasant things.

Here is the problem these experimenters ran into- MDMA's "normal" recreational dose is 100-150 mg, and the old "threaputic" dose suggested by Shulgin and that www.maps.org applied for is 50-60 mg.

Methamphetamine, though, packs quite a wallop at 10-15 mg. So the researchers got vials with swapped labels and fed the stuff to their experimental animals at "about" recreational levels of 150 mg or so- but since the dope was meth not MDMA, the animals got 10 times the dose considered "normal" for meth. Hence brain damage, death, convulsions, neurotoxicity. The higher doses they used were of course worse.

If MAPS had their way, the researchers could have sampled the vial themselves and conducted a much cheaper analysis than that provided by a GC/MS analyzer- they would have known right away, "this ain't E!"

There are other studies on neurotoxicity of MDMA, some on erowid, I suggest those interested look there. IMO it is still not clear if the stuff is toxic or not.

http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/shulgin/adsarchive/tolerance.htm

The link above leads you to a Q&A forum, in which the guy who first strongly advocated for MDMA therapy, Dr. Shulgin, states that while the last word is not in on neurotoxicity, there seems to be some sort of permanent brain change from repeated use.