^ Thank you for posting this Augusta.
David Nutt's list is damned laughable.
Too often people think scientists and doctors are more qualified to make statements about the brain than they really are.
We are only just beginning to understand the brain!
His list is a disgrace to the University and he had to resign from his post, including his position with the government.
It is among the most stupid and dangerous claims about MDMA I have come across in my time.
Sure, alcohol is very damaging.
It is widely used and it causes brain atrophy with long-term use, mostly in glial cells.
As a result neurons are also lost, making alcohol neurotoxic.
And mixing it with a number of other drugs increases negative reactions.
Cigarettes are obviously quite deadly with long-term use as well.
Should we conclude that the relative few deaths from MDMA makes alcohol and tobacco more dangerous?
Um, no.
If MDMA were used as widely and regularly as other drugs, we would have LOTS of data on death and brain damage in its users.
And I have PLENTY of friends who did MDMA in the 90s that consider it "the most dangerous drug of all."
Why is it that current users have so little contact with former users?
Plenty of MDMA users will eventually claim lasting cognitive and emotional impairments.
And some will conclude that it is very dangerous, based upon their own experience.
Just because death from MDMA is rare, does not make it SAFE.
It is a proven potent neurotoxin that damages the highest serotonin axons in the brain!
This changes our most highly evolved thoughts, feelings, and visceral experiences in life.
And repeated doses, especially on consecutive days, is PROVEN to cause more neurotoxicity!
Where is this in the Nutt report?
As amazing as the experience is, MDMA produces damage and 'alterations' in the brain FAR more quickly than most drugs. This truth has been well known on BL for many years...
And plenty of research papers have found cognitive deficits even among moderate MDMA users.
And heavier users reliably score worse on tests of executive function, self-regulation, depression/anxiety well past one year of abstinence!
And then there is evidence of loss in blood perfusion to many brain regions, diminished serotonin and dopamine transmission, altered endocrine function, and major down-regulation of serotonin in the cortex at multiple years of abstinence!
Cognitive decline in moderate users is perhaps the greatest evidence that MDMA is not 'safe' in the right doses.
What do I consider 'safe' use?
Realistically, 100-200 mg of MDMA taken twice per YEAR could be considered relatively safe.
But even this will produce detectable changes after a few years.
Accept it and roll with that knowledge.
MDMA is a neurotoxin.
Period.
Have fun accordingly.