NEWS: Prozac Article (Mezzmusic.com)

[BigTrancer]

US Scientists Suggest Prozac Can Eliminate Adverse Ecstasy Effects
Leading US scientists, including Dr George Ricuarte from the John Hopkins Institute, are claiming that taking Selective Serotonin Receptors (S.S.R.Is) such as Prozac, alongside ecstasy, can protect the brain from the signs of damage they've previously claimed are caused by ecstasy use. "In rodents you can essentially get complete protection," David Nichols, a pharmacologist from the University Of Perdue told salon.com, which was a view backed by Dr Ricuarte, who said "there is very good evidence that this is, in fact, the case in animals."
The report followed publication of the latest US statistics on drug use which revealed that drug use amongst Americans aged between 12 and 17 continues to decline, from 8.3% in 1998 to 7.0% last year. "The survey provides extremely encouraging news that teen drug use is going down significantly," the US Drug Tsar General Barry McCaffrey said. "However, we must be aware that the younger a person is when first trying marijuana, the greater the risk of drug dependency later." The figures contrasted with illegal alcohol consumption (the US drinking age is 21) with 52% of the young teenagers admitting 'current alcohol use'.
In more data from the survery, 14.8 million Americans were estimated to be current users of illicit drugs while an estimated 2.3 million Americans tried marijuana for the first time in 1998 (averaging out at 6,400 new tokers a day). More than two thirds of the new weed smokers were under 18. During the same period, 1.6 million people took up smoking tobacco on a daily basis.
Dr Donna E. Shalala (no connection to the Vengaboys) appeared alongside General McCaffrey at the press conference announcing the new figures and passed on further parental advice for reducing illegal drug use. "The single most important factor in protecting children from trying drugs (is) to sit down with their children- early and often- and tell them that drugs are a one-way ticket to no-where."
_____also...______
America's most notorious rap figure, Marion 'Suge' Knight, currently serving a 9 year sentence for a parole violation (in California's Mule Creek State prison) spoke (by phone) to Q magazine this month, and while he mocked both Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, gave the 'thumbs-up' to Dre's protege Eminem. "I don't think Eminem has anything to prove to anybody," Suge said. "He should enjoy his success and not get caught up in the bullshit. A lot of studio gangstas have so much pressure on them. They take the ecstasy pills 'cos they gotta' get loaded to talk to you. And then they do stuff they might have to apologise for the next day." Knight's official release date is 10th May 2001, though Q suggest he could be released sooner.". .
http://www.mezzmusic.com/index.cfm?URL=newzz_display.cfm&Story=142

Just a couple of interest clips for you.
BigTrancer

[This message has been edited by BigTrancer (edited 20 September 2000).]

 

[atomica]

the peeps @ john hopkins uni are so cool. not only do they do all this great e research, but asym used to go to experimental/ambient parties held there in this room w/ all these nice marble staircases n all... very cool

thanks for the update bt i'll keep munching my prozac

 

[Biscuit]

i wonder though, as the report said it was found that there was no damage when prozac and MDMA were taken alongside one another.
U dont think the researchers would have been dumb enough to administer the SSRI and the MDMA about the same time do u? No damage would of course be expected then as the SSRI would essentially go a fair way to eliminating the MDMA effect all together. Hence what is the point of taking the drug at all???
Studies have to be done where they give the MDMA, then around 5 or 6 hrs later they give the SSRI, or is that actually what they have done here, but not been ver clear about it?

 

[BigTrancer]

Well, apparently that's just one part of a larger study conducted at Johns Hopkins, by G. Ricuarte et al.
Originally published as:
Ricaurte GA, Yuan J and McCann UD, "(+/-)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine ('Ecstasy') - Induced Serotonin Neurotoxicity: Studies in Animals", Neuropsychobiology 42(1), pp5-10, 2000.
I've found an online version: http://mdma.net/mdma/
Cheers, BigTrancer