I welcome a break from the frequent monotony of many threads on this site about popular misrepresentation of MDMA and other drugs. It is refreshing to see an alternative view offered by someone with their own experience to speak of, rather than consistent reinforcement of one repetitive point after another. it's pretty interesting to see how defensive some people become - they seem to shift from MDMA users to strong MDMA proponents, and i believe there is no need for that.
if someone relays their own negative personal experience with a certain drug, or makes evidence-based criticisms of the drug, this does not constitute a personal attack on satisfied users of the drug, and perceiving it as such will just turn a discussion into a grumpfest.
i find this worrying:
Dude, I test my pills so don't preach to me about what is in them. Your PMA comment is completley irrelevant, just like most of the TT report.
attitudes like that add credibility to the claim that reagent pill-testing is not effective harm-reduction because it gives users a false sense of confidence. although my bias is definitely for reagent testing by Enlighten and others, i can understand the claims of the medical community who oppose testing for this very reason. e.g., ticktock posted a list of impurities in illicit MDMA that have been uncovered from analysed samples - people with some degree of scientific knowledge will understand that impurities pose an entirely different problem to consumers of illicit tablets than dangerous drugs such as PMA do. however, the layman will often be oblivious to the dangers associated with frequent exposure to these many varied compounds that won't cause you to drop dead on the dancefloor.
I have read many times posts by phase_dancer where he makes the totally legitimate claim that consistent exposure to contaminant-amounts of these impurities can often pose far more of a health risk than the active compounds themselves. see, people may not know that even if a pill scraping tests positive to the presence of MDMA, the trace impurities could still definitely be present, and without knowing of this possible hazard, people could wrap themselves up in the blanket of harm-reduction and assume that their test result puts them out of danger. combine that with someone who has easy access to positive-testing pills, and frequent use could very well ensue - the cumulative toxic effect of unknown impurities on the organs of the body is therefore a potential outcome of using illicit pills that test-kits won't protect you from.
but test-kits are certainly not to blame either, and (without knowing of any firm evidence to support me yet) their benefits probably outweigh any false confidence given to users, especially in combination with other HR strategies. the worst enemy of someone who munches enough pills with enough frequency to suffer a toxic effect from contaminants is their own stupidity, and perhaps bad fortune too. usually education will help to overcome one's ignorance or stupidity to some extent, but a stubborn approach to the many negative possibilities that could arise from using illicit products is a good way to have something you enjoy backfire on you.
ticktock, i welcome the insight you've offered us regarding your personal experience with MDMA, and i wouldn't challenge your observation regarding the correlation between your MDMA use and subsequent negative health consequences. i was aware of the possibility of negative outcomes before i tried MDMA, but i tried it anyway, and it worked out for me. divulging true and accurate information, both good and bad, is essential to allow people seeking harm reduction info from this site to make a genuinely balanced decision - because being aware of all the possibilities and still choosing to experiment with a drug means that one shoulders the consequences themselves and does not try to deflect criticism toward the substance or information sources, rather than the decision maker - ie. themselves.
Cop out's who blame the drug not the person, like I've said so many times in ED, drugs can't make you take them, and blaming a drug for fucking up your life is like blaming a gun for shooting someone.
telling people about your own shit time with a drug is not blaming a drug for anything other than inducing an adverse reaction, and publicising an adverse reaction to a substance is not something that should be met with scorn from users who are lucky enough to enjoy a drug's benefits with minimal harm. i have not seen a claim in this thread that MDMA made a user take it - all i have seen is an alternative perspective on a drug from someone who had a different experience on it than most other people do. having said that, i think your statement was just referring to alot of the blame drugs get in general, usually from people who abuse the drug - with the abuse being the cause of the fucked up life, rather than sensible use of the drug where the person was an unwitting victim. in that regard i agree with you.
