"Not everyone sees ecstasy as a danger -- Drug's advocates call for look at its benefits."by David Abel, January 2, 2001, E1, front page weekly Health Section, Boston Globe.This article is remarkable in that it mentions potential benefits of MDMA and does a fairly good job of striving for balance. Some factual errors, debatable issues and loaded terminology are discussed below by Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS President. A letter to the Editor of The Boston Globe from Rick Doblin. Mistakes
1). Ecstasy was not "initially conceived to reduce the barriers of resistant
mental patients." Actually, "Merck stumbled across MDMA when they tried to
synthesize Hydrastinin, a vasoconstrictive and styptic medicine. So, MDMA was
merely an unplanned
by-product of this synthesis. As it was usual, the process of its synthesis
was patented." 2). The article said, "All but disappearing until a US Army study in 1953, scientists found that the drug soothes and comforts users." The US Army study in 1953 was an animal toxicity study and did not involve human subjects. There is no evidence that the US Army gave MDMA to any human. * [See: Hardman H F, Haavik C O, Seevers M H. Relationship of the Structure of Mescaline and Seven Analogs to Toxicity and Behaviour in Five Species of Laboratory Animals.Tox. and Appl. Pharmacology .1973 (25): 299-309. Abstract: This report describes several studies supported by the Army Chemical Centre during the period 1953-1954, and declassified in 1969. MDMA was one of eight compounds (including also mescaline, DMPEA, MDPEA, MDA, DMA, TMA and alpha-ethyl-MDPEA) studied in five animals (mouse, rat, guinea pig, dog, and monkey).]
3. The article said that "scientists say repeated tests show the drug can
kill brain cells."
* [See: Hatzidimitriou G, McCann UD, Ricaurte GA. Altered serotonin
innervation patterns in the forebrain of monkeys treated with
(+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine seven years previously: factors
influencing abnormal recovery. J Neurosci. 1999 Jun 15;19(12):5096-107.
Portion of the Abstract "The purpose of the present study was to determine
whether brain 5-HT deficits persist in squirrel monkeys beyond the 18-month
period studied previously and to identify factors that influence recovery of
injured 5-HT axons. Seven years after treatment, abnormal brain 5-HT
innervation patterns were still evident in MDMA-treated monkeys, although
5-HT deficits in some regions were less severe than those observed at 18
months."]
* [See also:
Fischer C, Hatzidimitriou G, Wlos J, Katz J, Ricaurte G. Reorganization of
ascending 5-HT axon projections in animals previously exposed to the
recreational drug (+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy"). J
Neurosci. 1995 Aug;15(8):5476-85. Portion of Abstract- "The present
studies examined 5-HT innervation patterns in animals lesioned with MDMA
12-18 months previously... In both rodents and nonhuman primates previously
lesioned with MDMA, substantial serotonergic axonal sprouting was observed.
However, in a few rats and in most squirrel monkeys, the reinnervation
pattern was highly abnormal: distant targets (e.g., dorsal neocortex)
remained denervated, while some proximal targets (e.g., amygdala,
hypothalamus) were reinnervated or hyperinnervated."]
Debatable Issues 1). The article claims that scientists say that MDMA can "leave permanent damage to people who even use it moderately." There are two related issues here. Does MDMA reduce serotonin levels in moderate users and, if so, does this cause any functional or behavioral consequences. Some scientists do claim that moderate use of MDMA, in fact even a single exposure, can reduce serotonin levels, perhaps permanently. This is certainly a possibility since animal research does show that certain doses of MDMA (the lowest being 5 mg/kg) can reduce serotonin levels for at least two weeks in a few brain regions, with higher doses producing permanent reductions. * [See: Ricaurte GA, DeLanney LE, Irwin I, Langston JW. Toxic effects of MDMA on central serotonergic neurons in the primate: importance of route and frequency of drug administration. Brain Res. 1988 Apr 12;446(1):165-8. Portion of Abstract-" a single 5 mg/kg dose of MDMA given orally still produced a long-lasting depletion of serotonin in the monkey brain."] There is also suggestive evidence from studies comparing heavy MDMA users (average 228 exposures to 386 mgs each exposure) to imperfectly matched controls showing that MDMA users had lower serotonin levels on average. However, it is possible that these differences were due to preexisting levels and not to MDMA. Furthermore, these subjects did not suffer from depression, anxiety, sleep problems or any of the dire consequences that heavy MDMA use supposedly may cause. * [See: McCann UD, Szabo Z, Scheffel U, Dannals RF, Ricaurte GA. Positron emission tomographic evidence of toxic effect of MDMA ("Ecstasy") on brain serotonin neurons in human beings. Lancet. 1998 Oct 31;352(9138):1433-7. Portion of Abstract: "MDMA users showed decreased global and regional brain 5-HT transporter binding compared with controls. Decreases in 5-HT transporter binding positively correlated with the extent of previous MDMA use."] In the only prospective study, preliminary research in Switzerland using PET scans to measure the serotonin system of MDMA-naive volunteers before and after exposure to a single dose of 1.7 mg/kg of MDMA have shown no significant changes in serotonin levels. (Vollenweider, personal communication). The question of functional damage has been explored in a variety of domains. The primary domain that MDMA is claimed to impact negatively is memory. Research here is suggestive of a possible impact of MDMA on memory, but is far from conclusive. In a study conducted on some of Dr. Ricaurte's subjects, the subjects who used doses of less than an average of 440 mg/kg per month, for an average of two years, scored the same as the controls on memory tests. Subjects who used over that amount showed mild reductions in some areas of memory. For a review of these studies, see, "Does Ecstasy Cause Memory Deficits? A Review of Studies of Memory Function in Ecstasy Users," by Alex Gamma, Ph.D.; Introduction by Rick Doblin, Ph.D. http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/mdmamemory.html Loaded Terminology The article concluded by stating, "And the demand is unlikely to ebb until scientists more decisively debunk the skeptics." The implication is that skeptics need debunking. Actually, government-funded scientists are issuing dire warnings that go well beyond their data. These warnings serve to help justify repressive measures that have never been proven effective in reducing the potential dangers and total social harm caused by MDMA or other drugs.
MDMA has potential risks and benefits, like any other drug. What unique risks
and benefits it has remain to be demonstrated in scientific research, which
MAPS is committed to conducting.
The remarkably balanced 1/2/2001 article by David Abel, "Not everyone sees
ecstasy as a danger," reported that MDMA kills brain cells. Actually, it only
prunes nerve terminals, an important distinction since some fraction of the
nerve terminals regenerate. The article concluded by stating that demand is
unlikely to ebb until the scientists decisively debunk the skeptics. If
that's true, demand is likely to remain strong. MDMA has its risks but it's
not bunk to observe that the worldwide use of
MDMA over the last twenty-five years by millions of people has not provided
much evidence to support the dire warnings of government-funded scientists.
It seems unlikely that even modest use of MDMA will produce brain damage with
clinically significant functional and behavioral consequences, now or
twenty-five more years from now. We need a better policy than risk
exaggeration and more people in jail.
Rick Doblin, Ph.D. |
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