Re: MAPS: Flatliners and Media Hysteria

["Dan Bellandi" <dbellandi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Dan <moriarty@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <maps-forum@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 04, 1999 3:30 PM
Subject: MAPS: Flatliners and Media Hysteria


>A drug, reportedly 33 times more potent than ecstasy has hit the streets
>here in Australia. It has be dubbed 'flatliners', it comes in a tablet.
>

The way the word 'potency' is used in reference to drugs causes much
confusion.  What does it really mean for one drug to be more 'potent' than
another?

A strictly technical definition would be that it requires less mass of the
drug to achieve a similar level of effect.  By this definition LSD is
1000-2000 times more potent than DXM, as many would equate 250 microgram
dose of LSD (~1 hit) to 250-500 milligrams of DXM.  However, it's complete
nicompoopery to argue that an average acid trip is 1000 times as intense as
an average DXM trip.

I would imagine that is where they get their '33', but that is very
misleading, something annoyingly common in the mass media.

Simply put, almost all drugs can be very intense at high enough doses, and
all can be basically unnoticeable at low enough doses.

A better definition of drug potency would be the intensity of what is
generally considered to be an 'average' use/dose of the drug (e.g. An
average dose of DMT yields a more intense experience than an average dose of
LSD which in turn yields a more intense experience than an average dose of
marijuana.)









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