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Is MDMA related to methamphetamine?

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googlah

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
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Northern europe
Hi guys,

Have been thinking of this. MDMA stands for methylenedioxy-methamphetamine. Does that mean it has some meth in it? I never actually done or seen meth in real life as I live in northern europe, but both MDMA and meth comes in crystalform.

I think it has to be related in some way though but only that MDMA has methylenedioxy-group in it too, which should do the high a little different.. but I'm not very sure of this.. could someone explain?

see ya! ;)
 
MDMA does not have methamphetamine in it per-se but as both are amphetamines both are related and they share some of the same common effects, though they differ in many ways too which is why the experience is different. I dont know the whole chemistry of it very well but I have tried both numerous times and can say that its obvious from just trying them that they are related. MDMA is much more lovey(more seretonin released) and chilled out at times whereas meth(more dopamine released) is more energetic and compulsive, though I tend to get jaw clenches on both, both raise my temperature, both make my pupils large and both make me talk away about random, deep thoughts in conversation with my other wacked out mates :) Both have their similarities yet they are both so different in so many ways. Meth is also much more addictive.
 
Yeah they are very similar. The above post is pretty accurate. I would have to say methamphetamine is more of a body-high while MDMA is both a mental and body high. They both feel very similar in higher doses as both drugs are fairly serotonigenic.

Route of administration greatly effects the addictive value of a drug. Obviously there are few meth users that eat .2 of the substance. Smoking it definitely increases the person's chances of getting hooked.
 
Speaking of meth, I accidentally took some yesterday and haven't slept since! Feels bad man. The really cool part is that I gotta work tonight. 8o
 
I Can't remember the example, but someone posted a brilliant one. Loads of different chemicals that are way different. but share the same basic chemical structure...Damn I wish I could remember.

But like has been said, they're both amphetamines and thats where the similarity ends. :)
 
Benzene vs the oodles of benzene derivatives is a good example. Benzene is a highly-carcinogenic solvent, while benzaldehyde, a benzene derivative that is very similar to benzene in structure, is the flavoring added to most cough syrups in the U.S. (Also, both MDMA and methamphetamine are benzene derivatives, although that's starting to stretch a bit. They're both more accurately amphetamine or phenethylamine derivatives.) Similar structure absolutely does not necessarily mean similar action. Oftentimes, drugs are classified together based on some basic part of their carbon skeleton, but the atoms that have been added dramatically change the way the drug works in the body.
 
MDMA is MDMA. It doesn't have "meth in it", but the molecule has a methamphetamine structure to it.

It's not like somebody can take methamphetamine and mix it in to "methylenedioxy" and have MDMA.

I recommend reading a basic organic chemistry book.
 
Amphetamine is short for alphaMethyl-phenethylamine
The "meth" indicates it has a methyl functional group off nitrogen atom

Im not a chemist but i would consider the "amphetamine" structure to be the most similar and the fundamental difference being the methylene dioxide ring to be the structural difference really seperating the groups of chems... mda and mdma are much more similar in effects to each other than they are to amp and meth-amp... and vice versa...

I could be wrong and always love to learn more about chemistry :D
 
Yeah, they are very, very similar.

Basically, for me, the difference between the two is just which chemicals they release (meth=dopamine MDMA=serotonin).


In some ways, MDMA can be said to be more harmful than meth. If you were to dose MDMA everyday, and your friend dosed meth everyday, you can be sure that your friend is going to be able to keep it up for longer. While meth is much more toxic in its own right (not to mention, filled with leftovers from drain cleaner and ammonia), serotonin will regenerate at a much slower rate than dopamine does.

If you were to dose meth or MDMA once every 3 months, like you're supposed to, meth would be much more damaging however. It all comes down to how often you do it.
 
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Folley said:
Yeah, they are very, very similar.

Basically, for me, the difference between the two is just which chemicals they release (meth=dopamine MDMA=serotonin).


In some ways, MDMA can be said to be more harmful than meth. If you were to dose MDMA everyday, and your friend dosed meth everyday, you can be sure that your friend is going to be able to keep it up for longer. While meth is much more toxic in its own right (not to mention, filled with leftovers from drain cleaner and ammonia), serotonin will regenerate at a much slower rate than dopamine does.

If you were to dose meth or MDMA once every 3 months, like you're supposed to, meth would be much more damaging however. It all comes down to how often you do it.
Click to expand...

also keep in mind the functional difference is how they work on different parts of the brain... MDMA releases both serotonin and dopamine.. e.g. it causes the synaptic uptake pump to work in reverse and dump all available serotonin into the synapse all at once... it also works in the dopamine pathway but has a much lower affinity so only a small amount of dopamine is released... with methamphetamine, it works entirely in the dopamine pathway, and furthermore has a high affinity which causes a large amount of dopamine to be released for a long time... this causes huge amounts of behavioral reinforcement in the dopamine path which is why meth is so highly addictive and so easy to lose control of...

so its all relative... technically the dopamine release from methamphetamine is less neurotoxic than the serotonin release caused by MDMA, but the resulting behavioral changes caused by meth results in *alot* more self-harm than MDMA does... because MDMA does not have a high affinity for dopamine, the actual potential for continuous abuse is very low (most people stop volunteerily after ~25 uses of MDMA... very few people regularly abuse MDMA and there have been almost no cases of full on addiction to MDMA)...
 
^ Very true. Most of the problems with meth is simply just the way people use it. Using a heavy dopamine releaser 24 hours a day for a week at a time is obviously going to be worse than rolling one time on a safe dose.. and lets not even mention that dopamine is the "reward center" of your brain, leading to a high potential of addiction to meth.

I dont think anyone would say that meth is better than MDMA, but if you abuse MDMA, dont convince yourself its OK just because its not meth.
 
Interesting stories, guys. Learned quite much just from this. So basically all what I have been wondered is now answered.. great!
 
I have to disagree with Chemically Insane on the statement that MDA and MDMA feel more similar to each other than Amp and Meth do. To me meth is just a stronger, more euphoric version of amphetamine whereas MDA is very psychedelic and "chargy" in comparison to the almost calm, lovey effect of MDMA. Theres no doubt that all have similarities but for me MDA feels quite different to MDMA. Id relate the effects of MDA closer to some of the 2C-X's rather than MDMA. But YMMV, as ive said a million times on here different people get different effects from drugs so im not at all saying that for YOU MDMA doesnt feel more like MDA, just my opinion :)
 
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