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Do designer drugs present a more dangerous threat than heroin?

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evilbza

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I am doing a presentation on a drug topic for uni and i was wondering what other peoples thoughts and ideas were on this subject:

DO DESIGNER DRUGS INCLUDING ECSTACY, PRESENT A MORE DANGEROUS THREAT THAN HEROIN??

Don't just think of the physical affects.....

[edit: just fixed the spleling ;)]
 
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The answer to this question is yes. I am currently studying the effects of different drugs on the brain at uni and ecstasy is certainly far more damaging than heroin. I dont have time now, but later tonight I will post more in detail. This is especially true regarding long term effects.
 
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no, i dont think designer drugs are more of a threat than herion.

just look at the herion toll in the newpaper, something like 25 people already this year dead due to herion...how many people have died due to ecstacy *and im saying due to OD's...not to stupid things like flooding your brain with too much water whilst you are on it etc...*

no drugs are safe, but i think that physically addictive drugs like herion are far more dangerous than ecstacy, your body can go into shock from not having it....whilst drugs like ecstacy are not as addictive as herion.

$0.02
 
You say don't just think about physical effects but physical addiction is greater than a physchological one IMO. It would be alot harder for someone to quit a physical addiction over a mental one, because a physical addiction will most probably be a mental one as well.

My shortened answer would be no way.
 
I think that long term damage is far more important than the effects of the drug whilst in use. When heroin addicts die, they no longer disturb anyone, nor do they use government resources (or our taxes). Casual ecstasy users are going to have on going problems that may not even show for 7 - 10 years. The next generation with their delayed out break of mental and physiological illnesses is already being deemed as an "epidemic" for the next 5 - 15 years. The resources on the government providing for these users and their delayed problems will be far more taxing then throwing a few bodies into cardboard boxes.
Beside that, the question is the actual drug far more dangerous on our brains, and the answer is yes.
MDMA effects the serotonin levels in our brain, a chemical which is already naturally produced and is responsible for controlling moods. It is proven that if you are a heavy user, and by health professionals that is more than 50 tablets in a LIFETIME, that your receptors in your brain which transmit signals of how happy/sad you should be feeling are permanently damaged. When these are damaged, obstructed and even completely destroyed, you are left with a person who is prone to paranoia, impulsivity, aggression and of course depression, just to name a few. These are long term effects. This is because MDMA is neurotoxic, something that heroin is not. Heroin does not destroy neurons in your brain therefore heroin does not cause any long term damage. The only consequence of long term heroin use once rehabilitated is always having the 'taste' for it.
Also I would be careful using the term 'Designer Drug' Ecstasy is no way a designer drug, a designer drug is a drug which has been derived from a legal substance.

Feel free to correct me

Thank you and have a nice day:D
 
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Herion obviously has a much higher psyhically addiction potential then ecstasy, but ecstasy has a much higher user rate then herion (So I've been told) but from a legal stand point, which is interesting, the deemed supply quantity of herion is 3grams and the deemed supply quantity of ecstasy is 0.75grams, though it would seem that herion users cause this world many more problems then ecstasy users, how doe's that work out???? why can someone have 3grams of herion and be on the same level as someone who has 0.75grams of ecstasy? (2/3 pills)

shals...
 
MDMA does
  • Irreversibly inhibit tryptophan hydroxylase
  • Depletes reserves of 5HTP and serotonin
  • Reduces levels of 5HT carrier molecule
  • Damages 5HT axons

That's neurotoxicity in anyone's books. What the argument is currently, is whether these changes are long-term, and what exact levels cause these effects. But the actions of the drug in each of these areas has been well documented.

Research Chemicals/designer drugs more dangerous than Heroin?

Heroin has been used & abused for over a hundred years, and virtually all there is to know has been learned. "Research chems" (and most new designers) on the other hand are mostly complete unknowns, seldom if at all tested in man at recreational levels in clinical environments. There's your answer :\
 
If your brain is damaged, irrepairably by one drug (ecstasy) and another drug (heroin) is known not to cause any brain damage, could you please justify your 'no' response, I am interested to see why you think not.
I think its very narrow minded to say 'no' just because heroin addicts are less functional than us weekend users of MDMA. Do some research, then come in here and make comments
 
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Sure. I can't give you a answer like phase_dancer, but I'll tell you my reasons. I have seen people on heroin and I have seen people on MDMA. I have seen the effects and the effects on the people around them. Nearly all the people on heroin change, for the worse. Their whole outlook on life changes. They can overdose. They have horrible withdrawal symptoms. They become addicted. Ok, so the long term effects of MDMA are somewhat unknown. Causes brain damage? Maybe, but most people I know who takes MDMA use the drug recreationally and not because they can't bare not beign high on the drug. I take MDMA occassionally and not once have I ever felt any sort of addiction. No, I'm not going to do research. I'm just calling it how I see it. Nothing you can say can make me think MDMA presents a moren dangerous threat than heroin. If my brains falls apart in 30 years, well... at least I got 30 years functioning normally. Most heoin addicts will either continue to stay addicted, die from overdose, end up almost dead from overdose, carrying a STD, doing anything to get money for the next hit, committing suicide or if they are lucky getting help and stopping their addiction before it ends in tragedy. I'm also thinking about their poor families who have to watch their downward spiral. It's heartbreak.

As I said, I haven't done any research and most of what I said is just how I see it. You seem to have done your research and I'm not saying you're wrong. I just can't see how one can think heroin is less dangerous than MDMA. Heroin is evil.
 
Herion addicts die, ecstasy users will bleed funding from the government for quite a few years in psychological and other areas of specialisation. Heroin does no damage to the brain, Ecstasy kills parts of the brain.
It seems very simple to me
 
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Ecstasy isn't a designer drug.

A designer drug is one that was created to circumvent the ban on an already existing drug, by duplicating or imitating the effects of that drug, but not duplicating the chemical structure of the existing drug, and therefore not being illegal.

I don't see how you can really answer this question. More heroin users die than ecstasy users, sure. But that's at least partially a function of heroin's illegality - they're dying because they are getting varying quality doses of heroin, so they take too much and OD. That's not the fault of the drug, it's a consequence of the fact that it's illegal.
 
yes and no.

physically, "designer drugs" cause a shit load more damage - my brain would be a helluva lot happier with me if i'd just been a heroin user than a poly-amphetamine user. that said, at the minimal levels that i use, i don't think i'm causing too much neurotoxic trouble for myself.

of course, in terms of general state-of-being, it would seem that heroin is more damaging, but really, that's far more a case of it being the drug seemingly used most often to "escape" the drabness or difficulties of the world (though marijuana and alcohol are obviously used probably even more for this purpose - of course they don't quite get the publicity though). and there's still plenty of meth addicts out on the streets; it's not as if heroin is the only addictive and potentially damaging drug around, it's all a case of publicity. plus the fact that plenty of addicts -to whatever- are able to function within society, holding jobs and otherwise giving the impression of being 'totally normal'.

glad you've got a whole essay to get through it, 'cause it's a pretty complex issue :)

btw, i'm pretty close to moving this to drug discussion. i'll leave it, but if any of the other mods think it's worth moving, feel free :)
 
Originally posted by Infinite Jest
Ecstasy isn't a designer drug.

A designer drug is one that was created to circumvent the ban on an already existing drug, by duplicating or imitating the effects of that drug, but not duplicating the chemical structure of the existing drug, and therefore not being illegal.


this is true. but, as society has a tendency to do, the word has been somewhat integrated into everyday use a term for any number of the recently (well, i guess it's not that recent, but they're not hundreds of years old either) synthesised "party drugs".

i'm a bit of nazi when it comes to people naming shit the wrong way too, but i think we've unfortunately come to the position where this particular term has evolved past its original meaning :)

(infinite is technically correct though, read more here: :))
 
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