Posted on 09/02/2002 10:16:14 AM PDT by Texaggie79
Three leading psychologists have provoked an outcry by claiming that the dance drug ecstasy may not be dangerous and that some of its ill-effects may be imaginary. The drug has been blamed for causing deaths and permanent brain damage, but the psychologists are strongly critical of animal and human studies into its effects, claiming that they are misleading and overestimate the harm ecstasy - scientifically known as MDMA - can cause. Other scientists insisted that those who took ecstasy were undoubtedly risking their health and their life. Two of the scientists challenging the established view are British and the third is American. Dr Jon Cole is a reader in addictive behaviour and Harry Sumnall is a postdoctoral researcher, both at Liverpool University. Professor Charles Grob is director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre in California. Writing in the magazine the Psychologist, published by the British Psychological Society, they claim that many of the studies since 1995 have been flawed. They also accuse researchers of bias. Ecstasy is said to affect cells in the brain which produce serotonin, the chemical known to influence mood. But the changes observed involved the degeneration of nerve fibres, which can be regrown, and not the cell bodies themselves, the psychologists say. They accuse other scientists of minimising the impact of data suggesting that ecstasy exposure had no long-term effects. Although numerous tests were run on volunteers, only positive results were reported in detail, they say. "This suggests that hypotheses concerning the long-term effects of ecstasy are not being uniformly substantiated and lends support to the idea that ecstasy is not causing long-term effects associated with the loss of serotonin," write the authors. The article is critical of the way studies involving young users have been conducted. They point out that many psychological problems start in adolescence anyway, ecstasy users invariably took other drugs as well, and some of the symptoms reported mirrored those caused by simply staying awake all night and dancing. Most of the young people in the studies were volunteers from universities which raised questions about how representative they were of the population, the article says. Most studies have failed to pinpoint ecstasy as the cause of problems, they say, and the animal studies were flawed and inconclusive. They suggested that the long-term effects of the drug might be "iatrogenic", which is defined by the New Webster's dictionary as "caused by the mannerisms or treatment of a physician, an imaginary illness of the patient brought about by the physician". Paul Betts, whose daughter, Leah, died after taking the drug in 1995, called the article "despicable". Three other ecstasy experts writing in the Psychologist dismissed the notion that symptoms of long-term ecstasy use were all in the mind. Dr Rodney Croft, a research fellow at the Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, said: "There is strong evidence that ecstasy does cause impairment... although conclusions drawn from such evidence cannot be infallible, I believe the strength of this evidence makes 'danger' the most reasonable message for the researchers to be broadcasting." About two million ecstasy tablets are believed to be taken by clubbers in the UK every weekend. Deaths linked to the drug have risen in the past decade. Between 1993 and 1997, there were 72. In 2000, there were 27, although 19 had other drugs in their system. The exact cause of death cannot always be established, but where it has been, it was often dehydration.
They are not deaths. It's all in their mind. </sarcasm>
Exactly.
There's nothing new under the sun. I remember reading the 70's equivalent of this. Psychologists saying cocaine was not physically addictive.
Ecstasy has a very nasty epoxide group on it -- might as well ask for direct brain damage.
I should know, said one of the trio, I take it all the time and have had some imaginary ill-effects, but nothing that you could actually call real....
Was ecstasy the only drug she did that night, and what was in the pill?
Uh. No. I wouldn't go as far as to say that most isn't.
It's a mixture of heroin, LSD and speed.
You are talking out of your behind. This is an urban legend.
MDMA is a lot less dangerous than 'ecstasy'.
MDMA *is* ecstasy.
So What?
MANY leading psychologists have taken the position that sodomites (homosexuals for you folks in Rio Linda) are "normal"...
Now, would you want to take advice from those of such suspect intellect and motive? I suspect that far too many of these false scientists have had their brains fried on inappropriate use of "recreational drugs"...
Your local plumber is a far better source of information about the abnormality of homosexual behavior --- the unsanitary aspects of improper recreation in toxic zones --- AND the inadvisability of "flushing" recreational drugs down your "throat"...
Semper Fi
How many died from tobacco, alcohol, aspirin, perscription drugs, gun accidents, trampoline accidents, or drowning in buckets?
A heal of a lot more then 20 people a year. Why the hysterics over ecstasy?
Most people are either mdma or mdma/mda, some people try to pass DXM for ecstasy. I have *never* heard of anyone putting LSD in e like pills.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.