C0nfusion said:
maybe e does harm your brain permanently but not if get mdma, it's all the other stuff that's in the pills..
Just a stab in the dark, but that sounds like a guess to me...
(sorry, couldnt help myself!)
I'm going to try and reiterate these points that I think are quite important to this particular issue. First of all, you or your buddy or your mum or whoever it may be saying "ohhh, ecstasy damaged my brain!!" means nothing. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that most people that use ecstasy also use other drugs. If this is true, and you feel you're suffering brain damage, it seems illogical to jump up and down and say "it has to be the E's man, because there's no way it could be the meth (replace with drug of choice!). Combinations are often more dangerous than single drugs, and even if they are not, you still cant say all the effects are from a specific one of the twenty three drugs different you ate in the last week. I mean, you dont give MDMA alone the credit for the high when, say, candyflipping, so why blame all the side effects on it?
Second, I'm really forced to wonder about the mentality of people who come along and say things like "I know it causes brain damage because I ate a gram of it and I feel like shit". Firstly, I'd be willing to bet significant amounts that most of these people use other drugs - so see point 1. Secondly, toxicity for anything is dose dependant. I can walk into a lab, see a beaker sitting there with a clear liquid, take a slight whiff and smell almonds. I can then say "whoa, that's cyanide in there!" and pissbolt away and I will never suffer any bad effects whatsoever. Or, I can say "hey, that smells nice" and inhale deeply... and fall to the floor, turn blue and die. Same with other drugs - take a little, get no bad effects. Take a lot, suffer serious brain damage.
Third, subjective effects arent always the best measure of brain damage. As much as we may believe otherwise, we've been indoctrinated for years that "drugs are bad and will burn holes in your brain". No matter how much you believe otherwise, there's bound to be a little subconscious part of you that believes the anti-drug messages. And all the reports of bad effects may predispose you to expecting (and therefore experiencing) bad effects. MDMA is a brilliant example - not only do we know very little about it side effect wise, meaning we're inherently more worried about exactly what it does to us, it also makes us more open to suggestion, thus more likely to think ourselves into the world of side effects. I mean, we know that if you think about it too much, the onset of the drug can appear to be delayed (because I assume that the drug is doing what it's supposed to, it's just the mindset that ignores the high). I get this all the time because I always think about things too much! And we know mindset has a great influence on the experience itself. Hence, is it unthinkable that mindset plays a significant role in the comedown too? Thinking along the lines of "Oh, I'm starting to come down... well, here comes the inevitable crash, depression and so forth..." probably has some effect...
I'm not, of course, saying that MDMA has no side effects. I'm fairly sure it does! But I AM saying that side effects do not necessarily mean permanent damage. Just because you feel bad now doesnt mean that you're not going to return to normal. A side effect doesnt have to arise from toxicity - it can be from non-specific interactions with other receptors, or from temporary alterations in body or brain chemistry (sound like anything we know?!). But our body suffers imbalances all the time, and it's usually pretty good at fixing them, given enough time. And, again, larger doses will cause more pronounced, longer lasting side effects. It is also entirely possible that MDMA is just as neurotoxic as Ricuarte has made out so many times in the past. But you can't make that assumption just because you suffer a few side effects. Please, if you want to argue, back yourself up with objective facts!!!
