I Need REAL Answers for Ecstasy…?
Question by Danie in the Misc section: I need REAL answers for Ecstasy…?
I know the whole “Its a drug, it’s bad” speech. What i need are the REAl answers, REAL risks. What are the long term effects, risks of taking just one, for a friend who is considering? I’m sorry, but she is a marijuana user and the melodramatic ‘its gonna get you’ won’t work. I want to help, but i also don’t want to judge. this would be her first time, so i want to get my facts straight to know where i should stand, and how i should stand there. Also – i dont want some silly druggie who just says, well i did it. Please explain to me everything you can. Can anyone tell me the FACTS about ex? Is it really bad? etc, etc, etc.
Looking for an unbiased view here. Or to at least look at it unbiasedly.
Also – What are some safety precautions if she would take it? How can i make sure she doesn’t overdose, or have a seizure?
Thanks!
Best answer:
Answer by Affy
http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/facts_xtc1.php
http://kidshealth.org/kid/grow/drugs_alcohol/know_drugs_ecstasy.html
http://www.justthinktwice.com/drugfacts/mdma.cfm
http://www.cathysprom.com/designer_drugs.htm
http://www.justthinktwice.com/itcant/irma.cfm
http://www.justthinktwice.com/itcant/kelley.cfm
Answer by W
“Ecstasy” is the slang for the drug MDMA (3,4methylenedioxymethamphetamine).
Let’s assume that your friend is about to try pure MDMA for the first time, either through pressed pills or “molly” (powder or crystal form, often in a capsule).
Pure MDMA is actually incredibly safe. Despite what the government propaganda will tell you, the risk of death from MDMA is slim to none. In Peter Jennings’ Ecstasy Rising (available on Youtube), they interview a New York medical examiner who looked at all the unnatural and accidental deaths that occurred in New York City over a three year period. These amounted to 19000 deaths. Of these 19000 deaths, only 2 of them died from MDMA and MDMA only. This was during a time period where New Yorkers according to the DEA, used 100 million(!) doses of Ecstasy. Erowid places a much more conservative risk of death at 2 per 100,000 users.Meanwhile, the New Scientist published an article last month stating that more people are likely to die from peanut allergies than MDMA. MDMA deaths are incredibly rare, this is why every time a young person dies from ecstasy, you hear about it in the newspaper. If an 18 year old dies from alcohol, cocaine, or heroin, will you read about that in that in the newspaper? Of course not, because it happens all the time.
Nevertheless, why do SOME people still die on MDMA? The most common reasons are as follows:
1. Pre-existing health problems, usually heart problems. I.e., if your friend has a dodgy heart, don’t mess with it.
2. Hyperthermia – overheating in hot environments, like raves, and not drinking enough water. If you aren’t in a hot environment and aren’t engaging in strenuous activity, it is fine to just drink as much water as you usually do, maybe just a little more.
3. Hyponatremia – some people get scared from what they’ve heard and drink insane amounts of water on ecstasy believing it’ll keep them safe. Drinking enormous amounts of water – either on ecstasy or completely sober – is dangerous.
Here are some other things you don’t want to do:
-Don’t get drunk while on it. Will you die if you do? Most probably not, but it does increase risk and dehydrates you easier.
-DO NOT take any products containing DXM (most often found in cough syrup) with it. That means that if she can’t get some sleep and wants to take a bit of Nyquil to help, SKIP IT. She could end up with serotonin syndrome, and serotonin syndrome could mean a trip to the ER or death. Ditto for MAOI medications.
That just about covers the short term risks.
Now, for the long term risks:
-Possible psychological addiction (it absolutely isn’t physically addictive), but the good news is that it is very, very difficult to abuse MDMA. You can do drugs like meth or coke every day because they act mainly on your dopamine, and dopamine regenerates very quickly. MDMA acts mainly on serotonin, which takes weeks to months to regenerate fully. If you space out your uses, you can probably get away with getting high on MDMA twice a week for a while (maybe three but that’s really, really stretching it). And since your serotonin will be so limited, your high will deteriorate more and more with each use. Eventually each abuser just gives up on the MDMA completely, or resolves to space out their uses for a least a month between each use. There’s also a phenomenon called the “loss of magic”, where even most users who DON’T abuse the drug (who use it say once a month), will eventually lose interest in it and stop using it. This is why MDMA is a young person’s drug, and you rarely see old users still doing it… it’s a phase, even if you abuse it for a while, you do grow out of it.
-Depression. After you’ve been abusing for a while, your serotonin is low so you’ll feel sad for a while, even when you’ve been off the drug. For most people, this goes away between 3 months to a year. However, a small percentage claim they feel depressed for longer than that.
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However, all the above is just for pure MDMA. If this was a couple years ago and you were of age, I’d say your friend has no worries in tryng it, but I can’t say that about today’s pills. These days the ecstasy market has taken a massive blow and most drugs sold as “ecstasy” do not contain any MDMA at all – they’re usually research chemicals, drugs you’ve probably never even heard of, like 2C-I, 2C-B, BZP, TFMPP, mCPP, and combinations thereof. These drugs are a whole new ballgame, and we don’t even know what a lot of the risks of this drugs are yet. Many of these drugs are legal or semi-legal, easier to synthesize, cheaper, drug dogs aren’t trained to smell for them yet, and carry much less risks to the chemists supplying them because of their more lenient legal status. If you buy “ecstasy” these days, chances are you’re buying research chemicals. If she is completely intent on doing E, tell her to buy a test kit (either from Dance Safe or Ez-Test). If it doesn’t test positive for MDMA (it most likely won’t), throw that stuff out.
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