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.
Wow. It's about £2.50 here.
Typicallly ecstasy deaths are caused by these these substances. Raves sometimes have pill testing, so that people know what they are takeing.
Typically, ecstasy deaths are caused by overheating and drinking too much water and there are still more people who die choking on ballpoint pens each year than those who take ecstasy. Congress wants to get rid of drug testing through the RAVE act, probably so they can blame more deaths on ecstasy, not so they can keep people safe.
And just who is "WE?"
I don't even take all the pills given to me in a scrip. Just use what I need.
BTW, I don't judge x users, unless they drive into my car or kill someone on the road.
From what I have read just on this thread, using has its price. That's not judgmental--that's observing the obvious.
Yea. Ketamine..
Thats kinda what I was thinking. If 2 million ecstasy tablets consumed every weekend results in only 27 deaths a year, it sounds to me like ecastasy might be considerably safer than alcohol.
er....you might want to keep that bit of information to yourself. Failure to follow directions for prescription medication is not a sign of intelligence.
Grob is an MD with expertise in this area, which ought to qualify him to speak, then.
It has a methylene dioxide group attached to the benzene portion of the methamphetamine compound. There's no such thing as a methyl epoxide.
Errrrr, wrong! No one is EVER going to cut MDMA with heroin - DOESN'T HAPPEN. I've heard this myth perpetuated again and again. I think some ignorant cop at a DARE class said something like this and it took off. Also, no one is going to slip you acid either. Both these drugs are worth too much street value to be cutting MDMA with it. You can and will get caffiene, meth, and or DXM in many fake pills. Buying at a rave is "buyer be ware," but as a rule your local X dealer is selling nothing but pure MDMA. It's hard to get return cutomers if you're selling junk. Simple econmonics really. Thank you Drug War.
Because people are having UNapproved fun - big brother and the puritans cannot handle this, nor can they admit when they're wrong.
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