Death by Ecstacy...Or Not (for A Rope Leash)

[bobster]

A Northern California buddy sent me the following op-ed from the San Francisco Chronicle, sure to get A Rope Leash mighty angry (but a good, productive sort of angry). It kinda got me ticked -- not that it's anything all that new....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 179310.DTL

It'll kill you -- wait, no it won't

Jon Carroll Monday, September 15, 2003

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Let us consider the case of Dr. George Ricaurte, still a "member in good
standing" of the faculty of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
despite recent events.

Ricaurte has long been a fighter in the War Against Some Drugs. Much the way some universities are able to find positive things to say about a drug in studies funded by the manufacturer of that drug, so is Ricaurte able to say negative things about recreational drugs in studies funded by the WASD.

Science is a lot easier when you know your conclusions ahead of time.

Last year, Ricaurte issued a study saying that the amount of ecstasy
commonly taken by a user in one night could lead to permanent brain damage and symptoms resembling those of Parkinson's disease.

The study was met with some skepticism even when it was released. According to Donald J. McNeil, writing in the New York Times, "the study was ridiculed at the time by other scientists working on the drug, who said the primates (used in the study) must have been injected with massive overdoses. Two of the 10 primates died of heatstroke, they pointed out, and another two were in such distress that they were not given all the doses. If a typical ecstasy dose killed 20 percent of those who used it, critics said, no one would use it recreationally."

Yeah, word would get around. Thirty or so dead bodies at a rave -- people
would talk.

It was noted that Ricaurte's study was published just in time for him to
testify to Congress in favor of a proposed law called the Anti-Rave Act.
(Thank God there's no Anti-Rant Act, or I'd be out of a job.)

Well, now it turns out that the drug Ricaurte gave to his baboons was not
ecstasy but a powerful amphetamine called d-methamphetamine. The admission of error was published in the journal Science.

Ricaurte called the mistake "a simple human error."

"We're scientists, not politicians," he said, and later: "We're not chemists. We get hundreds of chemicals here. It is not customary to check them. "

OK, slow down. Read that again. We get hundreds of chemicals in here, in
this scientific laboratory where we analyze the effect of chemicals on
primate subjects, and we do not bother to check the chemicals. Nope, we just read the labels, get out the syringes, and hello monkey want some
whatever-this-is?

Doesn't that give you faith in science? I mean, I knew a guy in London like
that once, he'd pretty much inject anything into his body, but he died a
long time ago. Maybe there's a lesson there.

The whole thing is so loony. The government takes its usual moralistic
approach to drug research, funding projects to prove that bad drugs are bad, and it prevents the funding of studies that do not start with any
conclusions.

It may be that drugs like ecstasy and marijuana have some medical uses.
There is already some evidence that this is true, but there's been no
follow- up because the government will not allow it. The government is
afraid of the answers, so it refuses to ask the questions.

Meantime, lapdogs like this Ricaurte dude get gazillions of dollars to injure monkeys in various ways to prove that the people who think they are
having a good time aren't. This is medieval science, intellectually bankrupt
and breathtakingly stupid.

Why do we allow it? Because it's never the top priority. There is poverty
and hunger and disease and pollution and the death of the oceans, and a
malign administration in Washington wishing to ignore all those problems,
and there are so many hours in the day. This convulsion of superstition
could last centuries. Just say, "Oh, noooo . . ."

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This work of commentary is in violation of Section 12 of the Anti-Rant Act.
Draw a line from Malta to Lampedusa; call it jcarroll@sfchronicle.com.

[A rope leash]

I can remember back when they said LSD caused chromosome damage. The outcome of many scientific studies can be predicted by first studying the source of the funding.

I've never done ecstasy, but I spent a few years doing biker crank. While I know that can kill you, I also know people who did it for years and are still doing it, and while they live the lives of drug addicts, they still live.

That's the problem with some of these studies. Instead of examining it in the field, (the culture in which it is actually happening among humans), they study it in the lab with sub-humans.

We spend billions trying to cure diseases, but we haven't had much luck lately. Could it be because the funding would run out, and therby threaten the livlihoods of the reasearchers?

Well, I've spent a lot of today looking a my paranoia-inducing left-wing web sites, and I'm really starting to freak out. Damn this swervy information superhighway!

Here's another fun read from the same site:

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/sorensen/

[A rope leash]

"It is the responsibilty of the patriot to protect his country from its government" - Thomas Paine

[stormwarning]

In the wrong hands, a syringe can become a WoMD (Weapon of Monkey Destruction).

[Copenhagen Fan]

I must chime in....I don't know about the REAL dangers of Ecstasy, all I know is that I have tried it on two occassions, without heavy damage being inflicted....just thirsty and tired the next day. However, I think that the drug made things so intense for me that I became a shivering mess afraid of strangers, or so totally in love that I was about to melt. It was pleasant and wild, but we swore never to do it again because it's just too "good", and too scary (while happy go lucky). The bottom line is that that shit is INTENSE baby, not for the faint of heart, if you are dark or too introspective. By the way, I also had a flashback on that shit the following day, that is probably because I am on a very strict non-sugar diet, and then I ate sugar and everything went WEIRD....it's not a fucking joke and it's not a toy....have fun but be careful.....DRINK WATER.

[A rope leash]

From what I gather, X is a molecule off from methamphetamine. Back in the days when I was doing crank, my first reason for doing it was sex. It's great if you want to obsess on something, and many times I would spend the enitre weekend just fucking. Then, I would spend all week recuperating. My drunken dead wife would actually use it to "sober" herself up after drinking massive amounts of alcohol. One's capacity for drink while cranking is amazing.

While this might sound like fun, it's actually a sickness. Once I decided it was probably doing damage, I quit, and I didn't really feel "normal" again until a year or so had passed. I wouldn't do it now if I was paid.

It's hard to believe that I snorted up my nose some shit a Nazi biker cooked up in his basement, but that's exactly what I did. It's my recommendation that you just say "no" to this stuff, even if your best buddies are doing it. Whatever you do, don't ever inject this stuff. That's when you'll really get screwed.

[bobster]

I did Ecstasy once, way before the rave era. (I think it might actually have still been legal at the time, that's how new it was!)

The good parts were pretty great, but a depression of sorts followed. It was weird. Partly it was a poignant, "the party's over" sort of a feeling, and partly it was the feeling that I would never, ever have fun again.

(I was reminded of this goofball sixties movie "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, about a happiness virus...come to think of it, I haven't seen that movie anywhere in recent years. Wonder if it's been surpressed?)

I can see how it could get psychologically addictive, and it's definitely not something you want to do every day, and probably does have a lot of consequences since it messes with your neurotransmitters , but with these idiots running things, we'll never know what they are!

[Copenhagen Fan]

yeah Bobster...exactly....X is NOT a recreational drug..........

[legman open to offers]

Ecstacy is quite a mind bender, not to be taken lightly, especially mixing with booze. Probably the best high I've ever had. I got to see The Who in 89 at the Cotton Bowl and they were tremendous, especially doing 3 hits. Crank is a totally different animal. It has ruined the lives of several close friends. My little brother got so strung out driving a semi from SoCal, he called the law on himself before he made it to Ky. The method of ingestion around here is smoking, and is highly addictive. My best advice: Don't even try it.

[miss buenos aires]

The first time doing E is always the best. By the ninth time, it's lost much of its charm. Not all, though. (To whichever government agents might be reading this: purely speculative.)

I won't even talk about speed/meth. What an unfun waste of time. (To whichever government agents might be reading this: purely speculative.)

[LessThanZero]

You guys do drugs?!?!?

[tokyo vogue]

i have a friend who does ecstacy who's we call 'e-tarded.' she's a sweet girl, but man is her mind gone. she candyflips (acid and E at the same time), though, so maybe that has something to do with it.



another friend was planning on doing cocaine this weekend. i doubt it'll happen, though, she doesn't know any dealers. it's still wierding me out.


gah. aren't we supposed to wait til after high school for this shit?

[bobster]

You're still in high school?

Anyhow, it's sad but this sort of thing actually was probably worse in the 70s. I come from a moderately sheltered background, yet several of my friends were doing cocaine (and all but the geeks were smoking maryjane); my best friend at my high school was actually selling LSD. There were kids at my high school who were doing Angel Dust a very dangerous drug which was basically the crack of its day. We used to call people like your friend "acid casualties." (Think Reverend Jim from "Taxi.")

Anyhow, my dealing friend is now antidrug as anyone and now somewhat prefers EC to the Grateful Dead, so there's hope for us all!

[bambooneedle]

And don't fuck with the needle. That's my saying for today.