Research on Ecstasy Is Clouded by Errors

[gWbush is Mabus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/science/02ECST.html

Research on Ecstasy Is Clouded by Errors
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: December 2, 2003

In September, the journal Science issued a startling retraction.
A primate study it published in 2002, with heavy publicity, warned that the amount of the drug Ecstasy that a typical user consumes in a single night might cause permanent brain damage.

It turned out that the $1.3 million study, led by Dr. George A. Ricaurte of Johns Hopkins University, had not used Ecstasy at all. His 10 squirrel monkeys and baboons had instead been injected with overdoses of methamphetamine, and two of them had died. The labels on two vials he bought in 2000, he said, were somehow switched.

The problem corrupted four other studies in his lab, forcing him to withdraw four other papers.

It was not the first time Dr. Ricaurte's lab was accused of using flawed studies to suggest that recreational drugs are highly dangerous. In previous years he was accused of publicizing doubtful results without checking them, and was criticized for research that contributed to a government campaign suggesting that Ecstasy made "holes in the brain."

Dr. Ricaurte, a 50-year-old neurologist at Hopkins since 1988, is probably the best-known Ecstasy expert in the war on drugs. He has received $10 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than any other investigator of the amphetamine analogs known as designer drugs, club drugs or diet drugs, including MDMA, better known as Ecstasy, and its close relative MDA.

[On the Road]

1. Wow!

That is unbelievable! The labels were switched on vials used in five published experiments and no one caught it?

Having said that, I'm still very leery of Ecstacy. I may not make "holes in the brain," but I know from a post-doc in addiction research (at Hopkins, no less) that it destroys the serotonin-producing capabilites of the brain. No serotonin = severe depression.

[Cheswick2.0]

3. yes and often those effects are FOREVER

as far as we can define forever in terms of a fairly new drug.
I have a loved one who is an addict and has abused every single type of illegal and legal drug there is. He says that Ecstacy is the most dangerous. Imagine having drug induced severe depression for the rest of your life (possibly)because some asshole friend suggested you "try this". So you did try it and you liked it and for years other people taking drugs told you it wasn't dangerous,,,OOPS!

[ender]

5. you're full of bs.

sorry, but what you are saying is simply not true.

there has been no credible research to support what you are saying.

you are simply repeating propaganda that you have heard from untrustworthy sources.

[Cheswick2.0]

8. no dear, you are in denial

my sources have used and experienced the results. You on the other hand apparently have some reason to want people to continue to fuck up their lives. Why is that?

[Voltaire99]

14. Try a vial of this denial, my friend. The first one's free.

With all due sympathy to your loved one who is an addict, you're arguing from a statistically insignificant sample that's irrelevant here.

The abundant evidence is that Ecstacy users worldwide are not similarly crippled by usage.

Even as a non-user, I philosophically reject your puritan formulation of "people fuck(ing) up their lives." If a minority do, that's regrettable, but no reason to impose Victorian standards on the majority.

Society really has little interest in stopping anyone from "fucking up" his or her life. Leave that thinking in church where it belongs; it never should be a basis for social policy. The results of such meddling are far worse: our current draconian twenty-year run of drug prohibition has caused far more violence and "fucked up" more lives than any drug ever did. (The rightwing security state rising around us now is, in fact, a natural progression of the drug war, which Democrats have eagerly helped Republicans wage.)

With regards to Ecstacy, you might consider that even drug-induced joy is superior to the joylessness manufactured wholesale by our violent, corrupt society. All emotion is chemical, and the grounds by which you and I create ours might seem more authentic than that of Ecstacy users - but that's merely our subjective rationalization for feeling morally superior. Good little children pat themselves on the back this way, as we're taught to do.

Joy is joy. Yet you seem to want to deny people joy. Why is that?

[CivilRightsNow]

9. Personal experience...

Is powerful, and I cant disagree with this. But I do know that there is no telling what your loved one was taking. He could have been taking a heroin speed cocktail. That is what a good 70% of the pills that are distributed are, with trace amounts of MDMA. The zeal of bills like the rave act have caused serious degradation in what is now being labeled as extasy.

Some asshole friend isnt to blame for telling him/her to "try this". MDMA is not a highly addictive drug. Trying MDMA once is not going to give you any more problems then taking a tic tac, if you know what your pills truly are, 999,999,999 times of out 1,000,000,000. Repeated ingestion of MDMA is ABUSE and just like if you abuse alcohol or tobacco, there can definately be repercussions.

If the person truly did do and abuse every legal and illegal drug there is (Im figuring that cant be possible, but Im sure that they tackled the opiates, barbituates, amphetamines, etc)then how do you know that the combination of drugs they took is not to blame? Or which drug is to blame?

I know many many many people who use XTC that exhibit not a single problem described. So, until science can disprove a reality that isnt hard to see if one actually knows what they are talking about... Ill keep believing what is right in front of my eyes....

Not sensationalizing drug war propaganda due to my limited scope of experience.

[markses]

12. Science? Pshaw: The Critics know people who, etc.

Who needs science when you know people who...? Of course, that someone else can name people who...on the other side makes no difference. That we should aim at harm reduction and sane drug policy makes no difference. That a good number of Schedule 1 "drugs" have no basis for being categorized in that way, and that such classification may inhibit productive therapeutic research on these "drugs" makes no difference. They know people who...you see - and that's the only thing that makes a difference...:eyes:

[CivilRightsNow]

16. You'd think they would have learned from LSD in the 60s

And how it went from being a very effective psychiatric drug to being labelled as a devil drug that could kill you and cause you to have "flash backs" for the rest of your life. :eyes:

Merck created MDMA when attempting to create a stypic... it was good enough for the US government to use in 53-54 in little truth serum trials.. Psychiatrists used it with no problems shortly thereafter, there are many recorded cases of it being a wonder drug...until 1984 (that great orwellian year) when Lloyd Bentson got his knickers in a bunch.

Judge Young even recommended it as a Schedule III in the hearings that convened in 85 by the DEA. Judge Young did so because it had been proven, with much study and existing research, that MDMA definately could have psychiatric benefits and that it had a very low tendency for addiction. Look at the studies that were done on extasy and empathy.. they are amazing!

Of course, the DEA overruled that reccomendation.

MDMA has the potential to be a very therapeutic drug.

[Cheswick2.0]

13. you misunderstand

It is possible to abuse every drug there is. Just sit in a rehab for a few days and listen to the stories. You assume that you know more than someone who has experienced the results of 10 years of drug abuse. That is rather pathetic and patronizing. It is well know what drugs have what resulting affects on your system.

My loved one knew what he was taking when and how it affected him. He also spent lots of time with other addicts and saw what happened to them. Unless you have been there you will never understand the wisdom that those who have been there have on the topic.

Yes sometimes asshole friends are responsible for the part they play in addict's lives. I have had many asshole friends (not any longer friends I trust) in my life try to encourage me to participate in something I gave up in the early 70s when I looked around and saw how moronic perfectly intelligent people were acting because of their drug use. My loved one has lots of asshole friends he can no longer spend time with... even good friends who just don't get it. Idiot friends who believe in the Marijuanna therapy (that if an addict will just smoke pot they can stay off other drugs...duh). There is a reason AA preaches about people places and things.
Do I sound angry, well I am. Drug use is a waste of time money and people. I am tired of people pretending "the man" is just out to ruin their good time.

[CivilRightsNow]

21. You take it at second or third hand, spin it and spew it.

Again,

Ill take it at first.

It is well known what drugs have what effects? That's the point, it isnt well known or else we wouldnt even be having this discussion in the first place. Schedule I drugs cant be tested by the average joe schmo independant lab.

Your loved one doesnt have the monopoly on knowing people who have abused drugs.

Oh, and marijuana therapy is incredibly effective.

I shoulda figured you were one of those reformed drug users from the 60s and 70s. "The man" trying to ruin their good time is so indicative of having no touch with the reasons alot of people use a wide variety of drugs in current times.

[no_arbusto]

15. Propaganda on both sides

Obviously the study is flawed. Making a statement about a "heroin speed cocktail" being in 70% of pills is also flawed. Show me one instance where "heroin" has been detected in a pill. I've always been under the impression that "heroin" is orally inactive at such a small dose. Oxycontin, on the other hand, would be active but not cost effective. DXM (cheap Robitussin ingredient) is the most likely culprit for a bad reaction. PMA was also detected in several lethal batches a few years back. Methamphetamine is also increasingly found in pills.

I doubt that most pills that are 100% MDMA would cause many complications. However, as you've pointed out, the Rave Act (and crackdown on suppliers) has caused a wave of E knockoffs being passed off as the real thing. This site did laboratory testing until a few months ago (due to Rave Act). The results are interesting:
http://www.dancesafe.org/labtesting/

[CivilRightsNow]

20. Motorolas-

I cant believe you directed me to dancesafe and then didnt know about this issue. Look at the lab testing, 3rd page..

Motorolas were HUGELY distributed, infact they are still popping up almost 9 months after believed initial distro.

Dancesafe has them at 21.4% heroin. Not to mention that they were mixed with Fluoxetine, an antidepressant that screws with your seritonin reuptake.

You mention DXM but not the plethora of things that are cut in that interfere with MAOIs?

Bah.

[ender]

23. motorolas have gone through several iterations...

and as for messing up MAOI's - christ - so does chocolate.

of course, the argument here is - of course you dont know whats in them, they're street drugs. if they were pharmaceutical grade, you wouldnt have this problem.

[CivilRightsNow]

27. Maois

Motorolas have indeed gone through several iterations. I was referring to their current incarnations, obviously they arent the same as the ones from 5-10 years ago. Thought current facts would be better supportive then dated ones.

Also,
Chocolate and Fluoxetine are two way different beasts.

Nuff said.

[no_arbusto]

24. I stand erected.

Wow, Motorolas were always impure but I checked that site for years and that is honestly the first time I ever saw heroin. Cocaine too. What's the point? These drugs aren't active at that dosage. I can just picture it "Hey man, don't snort that line, eat it." WTF? :wtf:

I can't believe that people are making pills with freaking 7% Prozac and 70% Aspirin in them as well. Even when people take Prozac at full strength for therapeutic reasons, it takes a few weeks to have any effect.

I guess I've been out of the loop for a while. Haven't heard of anything even passing as E around PA for a few years. Uncle John cracked down pretty hard. Maybe I'm just old. By the looks of what is being passed off as real now, I'm glad I don't know anyone who still does it.

[ender]

26. .....

you're just old, and the quality is about the same as it ever was.

[CivilRightsNow]

28. I guess you have never heard of parachuting heroin

n/t

[J B]

4. The news actually broke months ago.

But it's still very curious.

[markses]

7. Do some more research, post-doc

http://www.maps.org/

Review of the literature on MDMA:

http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/protocol/litreview.html

:-)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. From the linked article

Dr. Marc Laruelle, a Columbia University PET scan specialist, called the work so technically flawed that it was "something to put under the rug." He cited a recent German study showing that serotonin decreased only modestly and returned to normal within six weeks. The Hopkins team, he said, presented its data in logarithmically compressed graphs that seemed calculated to mask the fact that it had found impossible results: its 15 "control" subjects had serotonin levels 50 times normal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/science/02ECST.html?pagewanted=2

[TXvote]

2. Huh

Any drug that combines methamphetamine and MDA is sure to mess with your head. Duh.

[CivilRightsNow]

6. Let's try getting the drug name straight...

It's MDMA.

All of this is propaganda.

Tricyclic antidepressants like serazone do much worse to seratonin regulation in the brain...

Anything that is ABUSED can cause damage, but recreational doses are not the same as ABUSE.

Bravo to all of you who keep falling for the bullshit war on drugs.

[Cheswick2.0]

10. I don't buy the war on drugs

I think it is ridiculous that we use resources to put pot smokers in jail. However I am not blinded to the results of drug abuse. I grew up in the counter culture in the 60s and 70s. I watched plenty of intelligent people make shit out of their lives...even those smoking grass on a semi regular basis.

So you can argue about what anti depressants do to the seratonin regulation in the brain. However there are a whole group of people who would need to use them if they hadn't first screwed up their brain with drugs such as Ecstacy, would they?

[CivilRightsNow]

22. Wow.. you have no concept

So, the multibillion dollar business that is antidepressant sales are all people who fucked up their brains on XTC?

WOW.

Bravo.

[Cheswick2.0]

11. some links to real peoples stories

Ecstasy Can Kill
Nineteen-year-old Melissa Ross died after trying ecstasy for the first time. The Emory University sophomore had hoped to dance the night away with friends at an Atlanta club. Instead, she ended up in the morgue.

News of her death shocked Bill Gentry, a close friend who remembers singing and playing piano with Melissa in their dorm lobby. "Melissa was probably one of the cleanest people I'd ever known. She didn't do drugs, smoke, or even drink. She probably wanted to try ecstasy and see what it was like," he said. "I'm sure if she knew ecstasy could kill, she never would have taken it."

Melissa died from a fatal heat reaction, known as hyperthermia. Part stimulant, ecstasy acts on the brain's hypothalamus. It ramps up heart rate and blood pressure and disrupts the brain's ability to regulate body temperature. A brain unable to cool off an overexerted body on a jam-packed dance floor spells disaster. "The body sweats and the extreme loss of water causes dehydration," says Dr. Glen Hanson, Acting Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). "Users tend to ignore some of these symptoms, partly because the drug masks them, and partly because they're distracted by the social setting."

http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/headsup/drug_ecstasy.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ecstasy+user+stories

But by all means let us not listen to those who have been there. It is much better to continue to fight the pathetic 60s rap that "adults are just trying to ruin our fun".

[no_arbusto]

18. Let's be fair. ALL drugs can kill you.

During my sophomore year at college two people died from alcohol, zero from ecstasy.

Alcohol is not selective. First-time drinkers or people diagnosed with alcoholism can die by consuming too much alcohol.

Symptoms of alcohol poisoning include unconsciousness and semi-consciousness; respiration rate of eight or less per minute; lapses between breaths of more than eight seconds; cold, clammy, pale or bluish skin; mental confusion or stupor; vomiting; seizures and unresponsiveness.

http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_13377850.shtml

Edited for emphasis:
People have lived through what should have been a lethal ingestion of alcohol, but Arndt said long term effects, like irreversible brain damage, are possible.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. 81 deaths out of 156 million uses

The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, has issued a report on ecstasy death rates and the circumstances surrounding them in England and Wales. There were 81 deaths related to ecstasy between July 1st, 1997 and June 30th, 2000 in England and Wales. Two million tablets of ecstasy are taken each weekend in Britain. There are about one million UK ecstasy users each weekend using those tablets.

Broadly speaking then, over the period of this BMJ review there were likely about 156 million uses of ecstasy and 81 total ecstasy related deaths in England and Wales.
http://bbsnews.net/bw2003-01-11.html

[Tommy_Douglas]

25. I read that on Salon a few months ago...

Its funny how they injected meth into monkeys every couple of hours until they died. For the most part you take one dose of Ectasy and you do it orally not injection-wise.

Of course Ectasy is not a good term. Its been proven that "taking" ectasy could mean you taking any number of drugs. I've taken pure MDMA and it was considerable different then the Ectasy I took in high-school.

When the U.S. made it illegal and said it was a dangerous narcotic they actually made it considerably more dangerous as the quality and type of Ectasy radically changed.