Designer Drugs Fry Brain Like Ecstasy

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edgarshade

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Live Science

Jennifer Welsh, LiveScience Staff Writer
Date: 14 December 2011 Time: 10:35 AM ET

With reader comments

Some "designer drugs" may be in a legal gray area, but their actions on the brain are similar to those of illegal drugs and could be just as dangerous, new research suggests.
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The researchers studied four groups of rats, given one of four drugs: one of the two designer drugs, MDMA or methamphetamine. The rats were given doses equal to what an average user would take for their weight and body size. The team also analyzed how higher doses (as would happen in an overdose) and repeated doses impacted the rats' behaviors and brain activity. The researchers saw that the rats' brains reacted to the two designer drugs as they did MDMA, with increases in serotonin.

There were important differences between the drugs. Even weeks after exposure, serotonin levels in the brains of rats given MDMA had made only about a 50-percent recovery back to normal, while the brain chemistry of rats given mephedrone and methylone had returned to normal.
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More...
http://www.livescience.com/17465-designer-drugs-brain-ecstasy.html
 
I think the research says that but whoever wrote the article appears to be having none of it. Nope. All drugs are bad M'kay.
 
They are also making it seem like if you ever take MDMA you will get seretonin syndrome. I have taken plenty and have never had this
 
Here's the BBC version of the story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16185373

Repeated doses of ecstasy caused a rise in body temperature and more long-lasting changes in brain chemistry, more particularly a lowering of serotonin levels. This may correspond with a "low" suffered by some ecstasy users in the days after taking the drug. However, the researchers did not observe these effects to the same degree with mephedrone and methylone. This did not mean that the drugs were a safer option than ecstasy, the researchers said, adding that their longer-term effects needed further study, as did their addictive qualities.
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Mr Shapiro said: "The harms and potential danger with taking drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine are well known, and these substances are related to those drugs. "There is no evidence that this is a safer option. The real risk comes with mixing different drugs, and if you drink alcohol on top of this it can become a truly toxic mix."
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So they find evidence that Methylone and Methedrone are safer than MDMA and then say, "There is no evidence that this is a safer option". Yes there is! It's true that there may be other ways the meth... drugs are more harmful, but the particular evidence revealed in this experiment clearly shows that seretonin depletion is less after a few days. Believe your own results, guys!
 
Badly written article. What are these "long lasting changes". Why is increased body temperature bad? Surely its fairly neutral? I agree that MDMA can be pretty damned bad for you, but thats due to dopaminergic toxicity and some of the metabolites being neurotoxic. Mephedrone is ALOT worse than MDMA in the sense that most people fiend on the stuff and go on benders snorting ever increasing amounts. In the end you do more neural damage than you would had you gone for MDMA in the first place
 
I always found methylone to be gentle in terms of the high and the comedown compared to mdma/meth/blow. Out of the 10 or so times I've used, not once did the high feel too intense (mdma knocked me on my ass a couple of times, etc.) and the comedown, again, was never too harsh. I was pleasantly surprised that it also only caused a modest increase in resting bpm (95-110) whereas I regularly get up to 120+ on mdma and 135+ on meth/blow. Of course, this is just my experience/opinion on/about the drug. Shame it's been placed on Schedule 1.

I cannot speak for mephedrone as - afaik - I've never used it.
 
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Why is increased body temperature bad? Surely its fairly neutral?
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No, it is not neutral. Cellular damage starts to occur at about 42o

I'm sure repeated dosage of MDMA or similar PEA/Amps/Cathinones is not good for you. But, It is probably not all that bad if its not constant dosage, or if the dosage is moderate. (like amphetamine for ADHD, used daily for long term without any good studies showing neurologic harm)
 
Whoa didnt realise the rise was that significant. One of the main health risks with MDMA use is the incompetence of researchers and the "head-up-ass" mentality of many journalists. How can we make use safer if research crawls along at its current pace?
 
So this article says they are less damaging than MDMA. Big surprise considering methylone was designed for this specific purpose. Considering a number of studies were saying MDMA is less damaging than alcohol in regards to neurotoxicity I think this article should be about how MDMA and "designer drugs" fry ur brainz less than alcohol. I like how they got really specific with the headline there too.. panic, panic, ect. Designer drugs kicked in my door and killed my whole family last night after repeatedly raping me.
 
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Good to hear. And also yet another reason why I try to grab my media from the source. There are no negative aspects in this article, except that these 'new drugs' are less neurotoxic than the ones we already took away. I get a pretty neutral feel from the meat of the article, if not a positive one--It continues to amaze me how much negative spin they milked out of this one.

Well to look back with lucid hindsight...where are all the e-tards that spun out of the 80's X wave? Or is that why so many people take SSRI's for depression?

either way, I realize that you can go off the deep end with everything--you can lose your mind or body to any drug. However, where is the evidence for the 'evil' of the recent RC scene? We know that synthetic cannibanoids have a higher likelihood of precipitating panic attacks[and those are right nasty], we know that repeated dosing of mephedrone in large amounts over an extended period of time has nasty effects [what stimulant binge doesn't though??], taking a chemical on another's hyper-responsive dosage curve can have ill-fated effects (2ce/2cb-fly/bromodragonfly mixups), and that combining things in a poor or irresponsible manner can also have ill effects(mxe/mdai od--though, most drug deaths have been a result of retarded dosing or heavy combinations).

But where are the problems for the mass of people who have safely and responsibly tested and/or used these compounds? It's a tad bit too soon to say for sure, but alot of the RC's in question have been used for about 15 years [some, much less]--give it another twenty for assurance.
 
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