"The agony of ecstasy" - Bulletin

[thinkingwelfare]

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/33163FBE3BFC19B0CA2571B50004CDD3

Basic article... will be interesting to see these esults published etc.

 

[mr_magoo]

Interesting also that the article is dated 6 days from now.....

Now where did I park that DeLorean???

 

[mr_magoo]

And I loved this bit..

"Scientists unveiled research showing that E’s short-term downers could linger long after the user quits the drug."

Makes it sound like smoking, heroin addiction or alcoholism.

And then this....

"“The other factor is that people who use E tend to use it in combination with other drugs such as cannabis and alcohol,” says Scholey.

“And we don’t know to what extent these negative effects are exacerbated by that.”

Ahhh....now I get it. "Don't take pills young un's...it turns you into a weed smoking alcoholic"

 

[The Fish]

The most recent research on ecstasy use in Australia, conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in 2005, found that a quarter of all users took ecstasy more than once a week, and that on average they took two pills each session.

It's funny how, when soliciting volunteers for the NDARC study, they only interviewed "regular" ecxtacy users. "Regular" use was arbitrarily defined as at least twice a month (for a year, I think). Now, how many users would that eliminate from their survey, and to what extend would that bias the results?

Personally, I have never used more than once ever 2 months, but as that period of use covered years, I'd have called myself a regular user. The bias in these moethods astounds me.

 

[mike0]

It's funny how, when soliciting volunteers for the NDARC study, they only interviewed "regular" ecxtacy users. "Regular" use was arbitrarily defined as at least twice a month (for a year, I think). Now, how many users would that eliminate from their survey, and to what extend would that bias the results?

Personally, I have never used more than once ever 2 months, but as that period of use covered years, I'd have called myself a regular user. The bias in these moethods astounds me.

although many users respect the drug, i think the majority def. abuse it, myself included - I see the same people week after week off their heads - might have a week off here and there but def. not much longer than a week. So perhaps your use is smart - but from my observations i'd have to say it's followed by the minority

 

[hoptis]

Here's the text of it.

Loved up ... and washed out
01/08/2006

Use of the drug ecstasy is increasing just as evidence of its toxic effects on the brain are emerging. Joshua Gliddon reports.

Ecstasy, the party drug that’s easily available on the streets for less than $30 a pill, has a relatively benign reputation. Apart from a couple of banner deaths every year – usually due to the user overheating in a club – thousands appear to use the drug every week without any significant ill effects.

But the drug’s reputation is about to take a battering. At last week’s 4th International Conference on Memory, held at the University of NSW, scientists unveiled research showing that E’s short-term downers – feeling a bit blue after a big weekend, along with some anxiety and poor memory, could linger long after the user quits the drug.

"The effect is directly related to the number of pills that the user has taken,” says Professor Andrew Scholey, director of the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit and the University of Northumbria, in the UK. “It’s known that MDMA, the major part of E, is neuro-toxic and animal studies have shown that it wipes out the serotonin system."

Ecstasy works by massively increasing the amount of serotonin, a neurotransmitter, in the brain. Another paper presented at the conference found that a single dose releases about 80% of the serotonin available in the brain.

"Long term, we don’t know whether the serotogenic system recovers," says Scholey.

The most recent research on ecstasy use in Australia, conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in 2005, found that a quarter of all users took ecstasy more than once a week, and that on average they took two pills each session. Around 8% of all Australians aged 14 and over have tried ecstasy, and the country has among the highest use per capita in the world.

Use is increasing, and price is falling. It’s generally cheaper to have a night on the pills than it is to have a night on the turps. Long term, however, no one knows what sort of effect the normalisation of tweaking your neurochemistry on a regular basis will be.

"The other factor is that people who use E tend to use it in combination with other drugs such as cannabis and alcohol," says Scholey.

"And we don’t know to what extent these negative effects are exacerbated by that."

 

[phase_dancer]

So perhaps your use is smart - but from my observations i'd have to say it's followed by the minority

You have to appreciate that clubbers are not representative of the whole Ecstasy using community. From working in HR, and discussing such details with hundreds of users, both within and outside of the rave/dance scene, I can say that the majority of users I've spoken to do not use every week. Some may at the beginning of their E use, but once sensibility kicks in it's generally either give up completely or limit use to special occasions.

 

[ilikeacid]

This:

“It’s known that MDMA, the major part of E, is neuro-toxic and animal studies have shown that it wipes out the serotonin system."

Then this:

Long term, however, no one knows what sort of effect the normalisation of tweaking your neurochemistry on a regular basis will be.

Slightly contridictory don't you think?8) Also; Regular user = twice a week! What the fuck, I gotta think that anyone using E twice weekly is a heavy user!
These reports always seem so ambiguous to me (a E user). They don't give light to new information, instead they rely on a few quotes from experts and report basic statistics, seen it all before 8(

 

[Tronica]

It's funny how, when soliciting volunteers for the NDARC study, they only interviewed "regular" ecxtacy users. "Regular" use was arbitrarily defined as at least twice a month (for a year, I think). Now, how many users would that eliminate from their survey, and to what extend would that bias the results?

Personally, I have never used more than once ever 2 months, but as that period of use covered years, I'd have called myself a regular user. The bias in these moethods astounds me.

Regular use in that study is arbitrarily defined as at least once a month. This leaves out what we understand to be the majority of people that use ecstasy. so it is frustrating to see the results being used in this article as if they represent all ecstasy users- especially in regards to frequency of use, which The Fish has pointed out, has already been biased towards heavy use by the recruitment strategy.

The recruitment strategy needs to remain the same, as the study is also focused on drug market information, which is more accurate coming from people who are buying regularly than those who purchase or use only once in a while.

The issue is with the way the data is interpreted by reporters and other researchers. Albeit it can't be easy writing journalistic articles that are pitched at the right audience whilst also including all the caveats given in academic writing.