Scottish teen left in wheelchair after taking MDMA.

PriestTheyCalledHim

PriestTheyCalledHim

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http://metro.co.uk/2015/09/10/this-...left-in-wheelchair-after-taking-mdma-5385232/

Metro.co.uk said:
There are all kinds of arguments for and against legalising drugs.
But whichever side of the fence you sit on, it is hard not to be shocked by the transformation taking MDMA has had on this teenager from Glasgow.
Amy Thomson, 16, only took one crystal capsule of MDMA (or what was sold as MDMA) at a house party in June, but that was enough to transform her life dramatically, leaving her in a wheelchair, with brain damage and slurred speech.
She and three other teenagers were taken to hospital, but Amy was critically ill and ended up in a coma for weeks.
She is now in rehab and occasionally visits her family at home.
Now, we aren’t saying that MDMA was the cause of her falling ill, but often it is mixed with unknown substances that could prove fatal.
The toxicology report detailing taken substances has not been released because of pending criminal cases, Police Scotland says.

Her family has released footage and pictures of Amy to try and discourage other people who might be tempted to try the drug.
The clip, which shows Amy in her wheelchair thanking well-wishers for their support has been shared by hundreds.


Her cousin Kayla hopes the footage will act as a warning for anyone else thinking of experimenting with drugs.
She said: ‘Some people may have cried, laughed or been shocked seeing the video. But this is what a tiny pill can do to you.
‘If this isn’t an eye opener for everyone who continues to take stuff, I dunno what is!’

Police Scotland’s national drug coordinator, Dectective Michael Miller, said: ‘Any drug can be dangerous and MDMA in crystalline form is likely to be far more concentrated. There incidents highlight the dangers of taking MDMA in both its crystalline and pill form.
‘These drugs are potent and you are putting your health at risk if you take ecstasy. I cannot emphasise enough that consuming MDMA with alcohol or any other drug increases the risks significantly.’
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It is shocking. Could have gone other way though. Had MDMA and other drugs been legal and regulated with proper warnings and guidelines, these 4 overdoses could have been avoided. These incidents highlight the danger we put our peers in as we let the blackmarket control the drug trade. When will enough people understand that?
 
There ia a massive contradiction in the first 2-3 paragraphs of the OP in my opinion. While i certainly dont think MDMA is absolutely safe, the article says "there are all kinds of arguments for and against legalising drugs" - then a couple of sentences later, admits that the person who befell this this horrible outcome was as much a victim of prohibition (unregulated supply of unknown drugs) as anything else.
Rather than suggest that regulation could have made all the difference here (it "only took one capsule of MDMA [or what was sold as MDMA]") it reverts back to the same old abstinence-only argument; a form of victim-blaming, to me anyway.
People take drugs. That is the reality of the situation whether self-appointed arbiters of community standards like it or not.
Really sad story and really sloppy unenlightened journalism - and of course the same old shit from law enforcement.
 
Another news day, another day of outright lies. I've started avoiding the news outright, it's not just drugs, all of it is lies and half truths and deception either through reckless ignorance or intentional distortions. So sick of it.
 
Her family has released footage and pictures of Amy to try and discourage other people who might be tempted to try the drug.
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This is really gross. She's a person and a family member who happens to now live with disability, not a fucking cautionary tale. Show her some respect.
 
The message this kind of awareness (scare tactic) campaign sends is that the worst thing that can happen to you is that you acquire a mobility impairment. If that happens, your life is basically nothing but suffering and you exist only as a freakshow to be wheeled out to scare children. You should base all your life choices around not becoming a person with a disability, regardless of how likely that is to actually be the outcome of your actions, because people with disability are basically not even human.

And we wonder why people with disability struggle to find housing and employment.
 
Up until a few weeks ago, I had always been convinced that ingesting a typical dosage of MDMA (e.g. ~100mg) once every 2 months posed virtually no risk in relation to neurotoxicity as long as I didn't mix it with Alcohol or any other recreational mind altering substances. Well, I now believe that, unfortunately, there is always a risk of damaging 5-ht axons when using MDMA, which may result in a long term and life-changing case of some form of cognitive impairment.

Perhaps I'm wrong about this - I actually wish I was, because I strongly feel that it aided my PTSD, but I digress.

As for this poor girl - who knows what impurities and/or adulterants were unknowingly ingested by her on top of the drugs. Sad story indeed.
 
All drugs, even the over-the-counter ones, are dangerous to varying levels. However, real and pure MDMA--at least the kind we had in the late 90s--is not high on the list of dangerous drugs, although sure it kills very rarely. So does alcohol. The real lesson to be learned from this story is, like others before me have pointed out, that drug prohibition only makes taking purported MDMA more dangerous than need be. The die hard drug prohibitionists, however, already understand that, but they want drug taking to be as dangerous as possible to prevent someone, somewhere from deriving large amounts of drug induced pleasure no matter what the cost. In their grim, merciless logic, any scofflaw who dares taking a Schedule I drug pretty much deserves to die.
 
I feel bad for well intentioned people who just genuinely don't understand that a primary goal of the war on drugs is to kill people merely because they use drugs.
 
ro4eva said:
Up until a few weeks ago, I had always been convinced that ingesting a typical dosage of MDMA (e.g. ~100mg) once every 2 months posed virtually no risk in relation to neurotoxicity as long as I didn't mix it with Alcohol or any other recreational mind altering substances. Well, I now believe that, unfortunately, there is always a risk of damaging 5-ht axons when using MDMA, which may result in a long term and life-changing case of some form of cognitive impairment.

Perhaps I'm wrong about this - I actually wish I was, because I strongly feel that it aided my PTSD, but I digress.

As for this poor girl - who knows what impurities and/or adulterants were unknowingly ingested by her on top of the drugs. Sad story indeed.
Click to expand...

Indeed, very sad. I keep thinking of the regret and how parents will blame themselves for this.
 
ro4eva said:
Up until a few weeks ago, I had always been convinced that ingesting a typical dosage of MDMA (e.g. ~100mg) once every 2 months posed virtually no risk in relation to neurotoxicity as long as I didn't mix it with Alcohol or any other recreational mind altering substances. Well, I now believe that, unfortunately, there is always a risk of damaging 5-ht axons when using MDMA, which may result in a long term and life-changing case of some form of cognitive impairment.

Perhaps I'm wrong about this - I actually wish I was, because I strongly feel that it aided my PTSD, but I digress.

As for this poor girl - who knows what impurities and/or adulterants were unknowingly ingested by her on top of the drugs. Sad story indeed.
Click to expand...

What exactly made you change your views so dramatically, is there new evidence to support the claim that even moderate, well spaced out, low-medium sized doses of mdma, taken once without redose, can cause the long term serotonin system/receptor damage? Any sources that solidly back that up? I am genuinely interested in this. Not trying to argue I just am wondering how you changed your opinion of the damage of Mdma so drastically.
 
Hiltoniano said:
What exactly made you change your views so dramatically, is there new evidence to support the claim that even moderate, well spaced out, low-medium sized doses of mdma, taken once without redose, can cause the long term serotonin system/receptor damage? Any sources that solidly back that up? I am genuinely interested in this. Not trying to argue I just am wondering how you changed your opinion of the damage of Mdma so drastically.
Click to expand...

Well, three things really:

1) The massive thread in Ecstasy Discussion regarding so called 'Long Term Comedown.' It's so sad to see so many new Bluelighters post in there for the first time on such a frequent basis.

2) My own extremely reckless use of the drug, which has probably affected my short term memory, and, which may have resulted in me not enjoying the simple things in life like I used to (although I admit this is very, very debatable).

3) Ever since I began using MDMA back ~15 years ago, I've always had a habit of doing research on it because it felt like a wonder drug for my PTSD - particularly intrusive thoughts regarding physical and sexual abuse when I was very young. And of recent, there's some literature I've read which worries me regarding apparent MDMA neurotoxicity.

I'd like to stress I'm not done a 180 with respect to the risks of consuming MDMA. It's just that before, I was stubbornly defending it, and perhaps that was rather stupid of me (or not).

Re. neurotoxicity in general:

- hitting one's head hard enough can be neurotoxic to the point that the victim may be left dealing with long term cognitive dysfunction (this is especially prevalent in the NHL when a player suffers a severe concussion - it's reduced some of the best players in the game to a pitiful shell of their former selves).
- I'm aware that Alcohol is a known neurotoxin, hepatotoxin and a Group 1 Carcinogen. And combine that with its effects on inhibitions and I think it's much more risky to consume compared to pharmaceutical purity MDMA.
- Meth is apparently quite neurotoxic to dopamine neurons (emphasis on higher risk to acute and long term health compared to MDMA).
- We still have A LOT to learn regarding how the human brain functions, yes?
- Neuroplasticity is a good thing.
- Certain supplements are too (IMO).
- I'll shut up now.
 
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