Ecstasy

ITS NO ACCIDENT that methylenedioxymethamphetamines street name is Ecstasy. Users of the do drugs cut across feelings of bliss, connection, and peace. They find that their relationships -- with other wad, with the world -- are radically enhanced. better of all, methylenedioxymethamphetamine lacks the out-of-control feeling of lysergic acid diethylamide and other psychedelics, which is wherefore legion(predicate) functionrs hire jumped to the conclusion that it is relatively safe. Yet growing distinguish suggests that MDMA isnt quite a soft drug. Scientists move over right away confirmed that MDMA damages head word cells. Dozens of deaths by over-heating, heart both(prenominal)ers, and unexpected overdoses have been reported. Even get togethermingly responsible for(p) measures to prevent overheating have themselves proven fatal. And just give-up the ghost month, inquiryers found that women who took MDMA during pregnancy had a birth-defect rate quintette times higher than normal. Whats worse, years of disturbance little drug-war politics have trained our ears to screen out claims of danger -- and its preventing this information from orbit those who need it.

Politicians love to exaggerate drug risk, and when people digest high and dont experience the horrors predicted, they discount negative information as mere propaganda. Even those who should bop better -- people working to help drug users protect themselves from harm -- can be misled. Rather than considering that MDMA may non be safe, some(prenominal) harm reductionists have instinctively tried to debunk the question or tar scientists as government apologists. People care very deeply about this drug and they know an extensive number of people who have taken it without problems. says Dr. John Morgan, a professor of pharmacology at CUNY medical school, [Advocates] desire to see researchers who did these stu neglects as schlemiels or schnooks, however at this point there really is not much criticism possible [of the human neurotoxicity entropy]... the time to worry is now. So what do the data see? In animals, there is direct evidence that even the akin of one human dose can kill separate of serotonin neurons, which are opined important in maintaining positive sensory system; brain scans of heavy human users find significantly little activity in these cells. Some advocates claim that the same changes are caused by Prozac, but this is not so; with Prozac, changes take channelize through normal regulatory processes -- not through factual cell damage. In addition, there are liver problems. The enzyme which metabolizes MDMA is deficient in 3-10% of people tested. Researchers believe that those who die on a normal dose -- while their friends have no trouble -- may have this deficiency, but why it is that so few die is restrained mysterious. To make matters worse, some researchers believe that the brain damage is caused by MDMA metabolites, not the drug itself. This means that the minority of users who do have the liver problem have more risk of overdose but less risk of brain damage, while the majority with normal livers are less presumable to OD but more likely to harm their brains -- a lose-lose situation, for sure.

Still, skeptics will want to know why we havent seen more problems, if MDMA is in fact killing brain cells in millions of people who take it regularly. Dr. Una McCann, a leading MDMA researcher at Johns Hopkins University Medical School offers one accounting: In cases of Parkinsons Disease, 80% of dopamine neurons must die before victims of the movement disorder experience symptoms -- and the same could be true here. Symptoms might not be seen until people have taken large quantities of MDMA, or until they lose additional neurons to aging. ban MDMA effects might also be misattributed: serotonin damage might result in low witticism and high anxiety, which could be misdiagnosed as stress.



Granted, there arent good data on the prevalence of depression and other psychiatric problems in heavy MDMA users, but lower than normal levels of a serotonin byproduct are found in both those who attempt suicide and heavy MDMA users.

From what we know now, LSD is a safer drug than MDMA -- and it might be a good, if politically unviable, idea to suggest it as an alternative. British sociologist creature McDermott empathizes with users: If I were 18 and my friends were doing it, I al about certainly would still take it. Do I think thats a sane idea? Not at all! But upstart people tend to make decisions based on experience, not fine calculations of risk. Indeed, cautious scientific language usually pales in comparison with euphoric descriptions of an MDMA high. And people like heap Doblin, President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, an advocacy group for the use of MDMA in therapy, dismiss most of the latest research: Im not saying there are no risks -- but they have been massively exaggerated. he says. Given the difficulty in getting a fair hearing for the evidence against MDMA, the most pragmatic response may be to urge people to take it infrequently and in moderation -- or regenerate it with another, less harmful drug. We need a way, that is, to let users know were giving them accurate information: neither moral spin, nor avid thinking.

Maia Szalavitz is a journalist who has written for freshly York Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, The Village Voice, and other publications.

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