E and Parkinson's Disease-Comments?

[GoNeGoOsE]

Comments on this anyone??

"Ecstasy users may get Parkinson's early
Research in the US and Europe has shown that abuse of the drug can trigger the disease at a young age, says National Parkinson Foundation
KUALA LUMPUR -- Prolonged consumption of Ecstasy pills can lead to Parkinson's disease at a young age based on research in Europe and the United States, the National Parkinson's Foundation said yesterday.
""We know that Ecstasy pills that are being produced do not conform to drug prescriptions and contain chemicals which are very harmful to nerve cells,'' the foundation president, Datuk J.P.Tan said.
He said the foundation was concerned because of the 18,000 to 20,000 Parkinson's disease patients in Malaysia, 15 per cent were below 35-years-old.
""In Europe and America the numbers are alarmingly high, that's why they have set up the Young Parkinson's Clubs to help the patients,'' he told a press conference after the launch of a Parkinson's disease book by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik here.
Dr Ling said parents and teachers should together teach their children to say ""no'' to Ecstasy pills.
""What is frightening is when teenagers start taking drugs, you have teenagers having Parkinson's disease even before they reach 20.''
Datuk Tan added that the foundation had put up posters in schools to educate students on the disease besides organising seminars to explain the dangers of misusing the drug.
It also expects to set up a counselling centre here in October to help Parkinson's disease patients.
The disease affects both men and women and there is no cure for it, with most Parkinson's disease patients dying after seven years of contracting the disease.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Chung Tsu Tuan, the principal assistant director of the National Drug Agency, said prolonged abuse of Ecstasy pills would also affect the user's personality. --Bernama, The Star/ Asia News Network
Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
This is the first time i am hearing this and can someone shed some light or comment on this??

the URL is: http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/mal7_0811_prt.html

 

[johnboy]

i haven't heard anything so far that links Parkinson's directly with MDMA... anyone? it's not old china white rumour again is it?
hmmm this requires some serious research... i smell hysteria, singapore is not known for its level headed approach to drugs... but i'll guess we'll have to try and dig up some facts before we can discount any of this...
what would be most interesting would be to see the distribution of Parkinson's disease amongst different age groups and see if this statistical spread is anything more than just a naturally occuring pattern. 15% doesnt seem that outrageous to me...
"prolonged abuse of Ecstasy pills would also affect the user's personality"
well yeah.. it might make you a better person...
""What is frightening is when teenagers start taking drugs, you have teenagers having Parkinson's disease even before they reach 20.''
er thats a pretty big leap of logic. surely if this was as widespread as he is making out then there would be a huge percentage of people with Parkinsons in England around the age of 30... but i bet you there isn't...
here's a fun homework assignment if someone is bored.. find the email/web address for this Singapore National Parkinson's Foundation and ask them if they'd be so kind as to give the references of studies they have used to reach these conclusions....
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"i think i'll stick to drugs to get me thru the long, dark night of late-capitalism..."
Irvine Welsh

 

[sleeper]

This goes with the strong facts i heard while in the US sometime ago that Michael J Fox was a MASSIVE pill freak in his time, and i mean big time.
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You know the drill,
Slam down that pill!

 

[Soma]

woo.. on a sample size of 1
Pills in the US are lot dif here. You have the benz's and all sorts of wierd shit you don't really cop as (ab)use in aus...
lets not start throwing stats around just yet

 

[A]

my 6.9 cents (as always)
Parkinsons disease is caused by degeneration of the basal ganglia in the brain causing tremor at rest, muscle rigidity and hypokinesia, often with demntia (OH NO!)
Current research has found that the disease is idiopathic (unknown cause) but some studies have shown it to be associated with viral infections and as an side effect of the prolonged use of neuroleptic drugs.
Basically u get a loss of dopamine in ur brain (basal ganglia to be specific) which disrupts the regulation of the extrapyramidal motor system in the brain hence u get all these symptoms like tremor etc.
So, basically some studies have shown that excessive use of neuroleptics such as cocaine which cause marked dopamine release can actually fuck up these neurons in ur head causing impaired dopamine release, storage and reuptake in the brain.
Evidence regarding MDMA is still cirmustantial because studies on rats have been done but thats with constant high doses.
Brain studies have also found in parkinsonian patients that there are reduced levels of 5HT and Noradrenaline in the brain.
So basically all the shit i wrote above means that we dont actually know if it does..
studies conducted so far use large amounts of drug and constant use on the test subjects.
Just remember not to abuse the substance too much...regulate ur usage and u should be okay!!!
hope the garbage helped.
A.

 

[XSI11V]

""We know that Ecstasy pills that are being produced do not conform to drug prescriptions and contain chemicals which are very harmful to nerve cells"
so does this mean the problem arises from harmful by-products as a result of poor conditions in labs etc..
if so why didn't they mention other chems? eg. speed

 

[E Bee]

I first heard parkinsons linked to mdma about 7 years ago...shouldn't they have conclusive evidence by now? seems to me like someone's digging up old rumours

 

[Cimora]

Old rumor, absolute BS.
Basically someone said b4 research was coducted that reducing 5ht cells could produce a disease, like reducing dopamine cells causes parkinsons - it got all mixed up and now people beleive it. Theres no connection, never has been - e effects cognition and memory in heavy users, thats all we know thus far...

 

[SpankY]

Yeah Ive heard something about this before.
If there was a link between parkinsons and depletion of dopamine in the brain, that article would surely have mentioned coke and speed?
But I have a friend who, whenever he is pilling, gets VERY strange facial contortions which remind me of parkinsons disease. His mouth seems to undergo quite bizarre twistings - it is quite sad and revolting to watch.
Food for thought...
SpankY
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Remember, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you.