Ecstasy: The MDMA Story

very pleased

Bruce Eisner writes a highly engaging introduction to the drug MDMA, or 'Ecstacy'. I found the history of it's therapuetic use and wanton scheduling at the hands of a zealously anti-scientific DEA to be a fascinating but sad story. Even Francis Young, the Administrative Law Judge presiding the hearing which made MDMA illegal, recommended the drug be placed in Schedule III which means it has accepted medical use and a low potential for abse. The DEA overuled and placed MDMA in Schedule I which means it has no acceptable medical use and a high potential for abuse.So as things stand a person can buy a dubious Ecstacy pill cut with meth off the black market with great ease, but it is extremely difficult for medical or psychiatric professionals to use it in a safe and controlled environment.However, for the first time in 20 years the FDA has permitted a study by John Halpern of the Harvard School of Medicine to study MDMA's use to in helping anxiety in terminal cancer patients. Currently there are also two other studies using the drug in Isreal and Switzerland for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. For more information on current medical and scientific work with MDMA check out [...] the website for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.I was very pleased at how Mr. Eisner explained and contextualized the MDMA experience and it's significance to the field of medicine and to ordinary people. He also goes in depth describing the pharmocology and chemical family of MDMA which includes MDA and distant relative mescaline.Is Bruce Eisner overly pro-'drug'? He certainly has an agenda, but the question is: does he make an adequte case for it? I believe he makes a strong case for MDMA and much of his excitement is well founded in the advent of such and anxiety reducing empathogenic drug. However, he does gloss over the possiblity of negative reactions to the substance, which today may be more likely with pills substituting MDMA with with slightly more hallucinogenic MDA, or adding dissasociatives such as Ketamine or DXM. Eisner also glosses over the negative reactions that can happen when comming down to normal consciousness, which can range from a happy spaced out feeling to cynicism and even intense depression in some. What goes up must come down.With the first edition written in the late 1980's has been almost 20 years of mostly scattered government funded research into MDMA since it's publication. Since little in this book adressess the serious question of nuerotoxicity it is a good idea to supplement with more up to date material.And yet since The MDMA Story's publication nobody has ever demonstrated that the drug is nuerotoxic in infrequent recreational or therapuetic doses in humans. The two biggest government studies touted by the government at the hands of their favorite million dollar grantee, Dr. George Ricaurte, both turned out to be a sham. The first 1998 study claiming a 80% loss in seratonin function turned out to be horribly flawed and discredited, and his 2002 study claiming MDMA reduces dopamine function by up to 85% turned out to be a fraud in that he switched bottles of MDMA with methamphetamine and delivered such high doses of meth as to kill almost a quarter of his primate test subjects. This, he said was the result of a single recreational dose of MDMA.What do we know about the risks of this drug? It appears currently that it temporarily reduces seratonin by about 5% for 2-3 months, which most people don't really notice. Extreme repeated uses can probobly permanently damage seratonin function which leads to memory problems. These risks seem to be reduced by the use of the supplement 5-htp and antioxidant vitamins. MDMA does not put holes in your brain, give you Parkinsons or make you a stroke victim. Most moderate users notice very little permanent change except for a more positive and accepting outlook.There is a serious risk of heatstroke involving long periods of dancing in hot and sweaty raves with little water, so far one person in America and reportedly one person in the UK have died from drinking too much water. In all cases MDMA was blamed, but usually heatstroke and overhydration are the real cuplrits. Supposedly the risk of death from 'Ecstacy' alone is extremely small, perhaps one in several hundred thousand. Many precsription medicines are more dangerous, and many many times more people die proportionaly every year from legal alcohol and cigarettes.I recommend as a supplement to Eisner's book Peter Jennings 2003 ABC documentary "Ecstacy Rising" which one can find at various places on the internet. I also recommend "Ectsacy: The Complete Guid" by Julie Holland M.D., which is a very thorough exploration of the drug from multiple angles. The only problem with this book is that though published in 2001, it's information about MDMA nuerotoxicity is also out of date as Dr. Ricaurte's work had yet to be debunked. And it isn't quite as fun to read as Ecstacy: The MDMA Story.I highly recommend this book.