"Dope lessens Ecstasy harm" - W/End Australian Feb2-3

Dope Lessens Ecstasy Harm
by Sarah Stock, Medical Reporter.
The harmful effects of ecstasy on brain cells and people's moods could be lessend by smoking dope at the same time, a world-first study by Australian researchers has found.
Sydney University associate professor of psychology Iain McGregor and a research team found in experiments on rats that ecstasy caused anxiousness and depletion of brain messenger cells.
However, when rats are given ecstasy and cannabis together they have less depletion of brain cells and are less anxious. While they are not as badly affected as rats given cannabis alone or no drugs, the effects are not as bad as those brought about by ecstasy alone.
Dr McGregor said the study was done because about half of ecstasy users at dance parties also used cannabis.
Because ecstasy toxic to nerve cells, it can lead to depression, anxiety or memory loss.
The results of the study will be presented at a meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society in Sydney next week.
Dr McGregor said be believed the reason cannabis use lessend the effects of ecstasy was because cannabis cools the brain. Many of the harmful effects of ecstasy are believed to be caused by the drug's overheating the brain.
However, Dr McGregor said there may be other harmful effects associated with combining the two drugs that the study did not monitor. He said generally combining drugs was very dangerous and could have unintended consequences.
"It is not a rational approach to safeguard your health to take two drugs instead of one," he said.

Wow, thats interesting. Hope the study results get posted here.

Yes this is intresting, would like to here some more on it. I know if its true ill be reaching for the bong alot more after raves.

But this said administered at the same time

i've read one study where animals on mdma had their body temperature kept low, and neurotoxicity was avoided.
the control group allowed to run around and heat up normally suffered the usual brain damage.
but don't quote me

^^That's correct - keeping the environmental temperature low decreases neurotoxicity in rats (see erowid, as well as other medical problems associated with MDMA like kidney (see MAPS and liver failure in rats (see .erowid
If that's not a damn good reason for properly cooled venues, I don't know what is

Very interesting read!kEEPING COOL IS ALWAYS THE GOLDEN RULE!So if you have an A/C and a bowl, your set! hehe Ahh the medical wonders of THC.

another good reason to hold house parties
the clubs have gone to shit, in sydney especially. The music is not progressing and the ppl are getting grumpier/hotter :D
Big events Eg Two Tribes and gatecrasher sss are the way! + house parties too

Wow. Very interesting..
As for pot cooling the brain.. well If I am hot or sweaty, i can have a toke and feel alot cooler.

OK. I don't want to sound like a retard, but could someone please explain to me how this could work in any sort neuro-physical sense.
As I understand it, neurotoxicity is cause by dopamine binding to seratonin receptors(this is probably a very limited understanding).
How could cooling the brain stop dopamine floating around and binding to seratonin receptors? Unless Hot air rising had something to do with it?

I know i read somewhere that smoking lowers your body temp i'll get back to u.

cancle: absolutely no idea! But keep in mind that the dopamine theory of MDMA neurotoxicity is just one possibility. For more on neurotox. including the apparent links with hyperthermia, see MDMA/Neurotoxicity misconceptions (long)

I'll think as babydoc said the dopamine explanantion is only one possibility and actually is all too simple in reality.
(also its dopamine going through the serotonin reuptake terminals and into the serotonin axons, not dopamine interacting with serotonin receptors)
What is thought is that metabolites from either MDMA itself or dopamine cause neurotoxicity. One well known class of evils are free radicals formed in the brain by the various chemical reactions taking place during the breakdown of these substances; and even during simple respiration.
Free radicals are always produced in the brain and scientists feel they are a big culprit in neurological diseases like alzheimers. It just seems that drugs like MDMA increase the number of radicals produced and cause them to be produced where they are not wanted - serotonin nerve cells.
Like any chemical reaction the temperature is a crucial factor in how the reaction proceeds.
Very simply, the hotter your brain is, the more free radicals are likely to be formed.
Similarly the greater amount of oxygen available the more free radicals are formed. Hence the rumoured benefits of GHB post MDMA use.
It could be that this "cooling" on the part of marihuana is intimately linked to oxygen levels in the brain and the amount of activity going on in there.
Whatever the case i think u will find temperature, brain activity, oxygen levels, free radical production and thus neurotoxicity etc etc are all intimately linked.
This is coming from a chemists/biochemists point of u; my knowledge of neuroscience is limited so if this has been poorly explained someone feel free to fix it.

glad to see a study that is actually for the benefit of the people.. plus, its also been printed in the newspaper, which is also good, hope more articals like this are printed to counter the absolute bullshit they continue to go on with about e and many other drugs.
i think i might have to start smoking at raves depression n brain damage and shit are what i worry about most.