Ecstasy Study Studied Something Other than Ecstasy

…not that I know exactly where I come down on the use of Ecstasy (I suppose I approve of it in controlled settings), I find this article fascinating, and post it as an apology to all those who came out to the ROAR rally yesterday. I just wasn’t able to make it down to DC to address you all.

I turns out the Johns Hopkins Ecstasy study of last year, which showed how MDMA caused brain damage and serotinin problems, wasn’t using Ecstasy at all, but metha-amphetemine: speed. No wonder their lab rats and monkeys were brain-fried. Then again, now that speed has replaced E in a lot of club scenes (even being sold as MDMA), chances are that many ravers are making the same mistake as the researchers.

Results Retracted On Ecstasy Study

By Rick Weiss

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 6, 2003; Page A03

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University who last year published a frightening and controversial report suggesting that a single evening’s use of the illicit drug ecstasy could cause permanent brain damage and Parkinson’s disease are retracting their research in its entirety, saying the drug they used in their experiments was not ecstasy after all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33096-2003Sep5.html