MAPS: MDMA Letters in Science, June 6, 2003. Vol. 300

[RickMAPS@xxxxxxx]

Forum readers:

June 6, 2003.  Letters in Science.  An exchange of letters about MDMA
dopaminergic neurotoxicity between the MAPS MDMA/PTSD team and the NIDA-funded
research team of Ricaurte et al. appeared in the journal Science, June 6, 2003, Vol.
300, p. 1503-4.  (The PDF of the letters in Science can be found at:

http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/science6.6.03.pdf)   MAPS has already
submitted to Science a request for a correction to a misleading statement in the
Ricaurte et al. letter, in which only one primate was claimed to have died from
the doses of MDMA administered, as compared to two primates reported to have
died in the initial paper. For details, see MAPS' discussion of the Ricaurte et
al. study at: http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/studyresponse.html.

MAPS is in the process of preparing a response to the Ricaurte et al. letter
for the MAPS website and Forum. In brief, Ricaurte et al. state that
dopaminergic deficits will only be found in binge users, but then discount all the
studies in heavy MDMA users that found no dopaminergic changes by saying that they
contained no or only a few binge users. This raises the obvious question of
just how "common" is this binge use pattern, since they allege in the title of
their paper that the doses they administered to the primates represented a
"common recreational dose regimen."  Ricaurte conclude their letter by saying
that "we remain of the opinion that there are not sufficient data to conclude
that clinical MDMA research can be conducted without running the risk of
monoaminergic brain neural injury."  First, it's impossible to ever prove that there
is no risk. Nevertheless, by Ricaurte et al.'s own admission that binge use
isn't even the same as heavy use, it is possible to conclude that there is no
evidence that the clinical use of MDMA will in any way cause dopaminergic
neurotoxicity or lead to Parkinson's. Note also that Ricaurte et al. conclude with a
general statement about both serotonergic and dopaminergic risk, and dismiss
as being unpublished evidence from Dr. Franz Vollenweider's PET scan study that
showed no evidence of serotonin changes in MDMA-naive subjects administered
doses of MDMA in the therapeutic range.


----------------
MAPS-Forum@xxxxxxxx, a member service of the Multidisciplinary
Association
for Psychedelic Studies (see www.maps.org/cgi-bin/thatsanorder_LE ).
To [un]subscribe, email the message text,
[un]subscribe maps-forum youraddress to majordomo@xxxxxxxx
List archives: www.cerebral.org/Maps
Guidelines for authors: www.maps.org/guidelines.txt
MAPS Forum is supported by a generous grant from the Promind Foundation.