Newbierock said:
So your telling me something that pretty much ko's you the next day isn't damaging you?
Theres a reason you have a comedown.
You need to take the context of the hangover into consideration here, people.
Youre all ignorant in saying "If it makes you feel bad the next day, it has to be bad for you"
Take exercise as a comparison. I work out very hard one day, the next day i feel like utter shit and dont want to move. Let's call this an "exercise hangover". To assume then that exercise is bad for you would be ludicrous, and even ridiculous to assume, since we know for a fact that exercise is beneficial. The body is a miraculous machine that can repair itself in short periods of time. The brain is no different. When the body is faced with a challenge that may push it beyond its limits, it compensates by activating various processes. Think fight or flight. When faced with danger, the body releases massive amounts of adrenaline to compensate for the extra need for blood and energy. Once the danger is gone though, adrenaline will still overflow for some time. The body doesnt know that it is no longer in danger, so it keeps releasing adrenaline until a predisposed time. It then realizes it no longer needs the adrenaline, and stops producing it. It is no different with taking drugs, and doing exercise.
The brain has similar reactions with neurotransmitters. Let's look at what ecstasy's effects really do, to asses if the "hangover" is the cause of damage, or the cause of stimuli compensation.
ECSTASY'S EFFECT: (i suggest going through this slide show to help understand it better (
http://www.dancesafe.org/slideshow/index.html )
Ecstasy causes your brain more or less to over-excrete serotonin, and block its re-uptake causing an overabundance of serotonin in the synapse to be available to receptor sites. Ecstasy's effects last quite a while, somewhere up to 10 hours after ingestion, before it is removed from the blood stream. For those 10 hours, the brain is being flooded with more serotonin than it is used to.
As we all know, this causes a miraculous response in the brain to help compensate for that over-excretion. Much like the body's response to exercise by building stronger and more available muscle tissue, the serotonin receptor sites actually RECEDE back into the neuron, causing less receptors to be available for serotonin delivery.
Well....as most of you know again, once the 10 hours are over, and ecstasy is no longer affecting the release of serotonin, your brain goes back to releasing the usual amount it was used to before MDMA was introduced.
Now think...
The same amount of serotonin as before, but less receptor sites. This causes less serotonin to be used, thus causing the depression people sometimes feel the day after. It takes the brain awhile for it to realize that it is no longer being flooded with serotonin. It then re-compensates to the lack of serotonin by making receptors available again. The danger of abuse comes in here. By not allowing the brain time to re-equalize itself in serotonin excretion, taking another dose of ecstasy will cause even more duress, and throw off the equilibrium even more than the first.
The "hangover" is just the body overcompensating to a situation it is not familiar with.The brain's majesty doesnt end here, however. With the right care (much like after a long week of exercise) the body will naturally heal and migrate back to its original function, and the depression recedes.
Sit on your ass for a year, then go run 10 miles, and tell me the day after how good you feel. I bet you wont go running 10 miles again the next day, will you? Your body couldn't. You would face injuries, and extreme pain the whole time. Over-exercising can be just as bad as abusing anything. Its easier to disregard health on the weekend and pop a pill, than it is to disregard health and go running 10 miles again. So, yes, ecstasy is easier to abuse than something like exercise, which makes it entirely easier to be unhealthy with it.
People are well informed about how to correctly and safely exercise to gain the full benefits of the experience. Shit, American children are usually forced to take some sort of health and phys ed class in high school or middle school to learn about how to correctly perform exercise. Information on drug use is no different. The problem lies in the research and the legality of the drug. What is the correct amount of time to wait for the body to equalize and calibrate again? No one will know unless it is researched more, which cant happen unless countries lift the ban on MDMA availability to research facilities and universities. Unless research is allowed to happen, we (MDMA users) are all just guinea pigs in a worldwide research project to tell the effects once we get old. It doesnt help us that the government banned the substance, it only hurts us by restricting possibly life saving information to be found.
INFORMATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROPAGANDA!
Use ecstasy in moderation. Make sure to stay safe. Dont abuse the drug, and allow your body time to level back out to its normal state. These things are as important as allowing your body time to heal after exercise.
If you take care of your body, stay well informed about the drug, and not abuse the drug, the drug will not abuse you.
