What really scares me is that some people seem to think this might be better than marijuana/cannabis for PTSD which has never killed ANYBODY!
(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I will be the first to admit that the above is a wild title but considering MJ/C in the same sentence with Ecstacy/MDMA is really a stretch.
Our Canadian correspondent, Daniel Johnson, sent an email asking what I, as a Pharmacologist/Toxicologist, thought of a new Canadian trial of Ecstacy for PTSD.
Ecstacy is way out on the fringes of Pharmacology with METH, mescaline, morning glory seeds, psilocybin mushrooms and some African witch doctors potions and LSD, a Serotonin releaser (see later).
My ongoing impression has been that Ecstacy was an amphetamine on steroids and users at Rave parties would dance riotously all night get hyperthermia and sweat gallons.
TIME FOR RESEARCH!
I checked Wikipedia which may or may not be the best reference for this but I was very impressed. After living through the era of all the weird psychotropics of the first paragraph Wikipedia really laid it on the line ---- Ecstasy is a scary S.O.B. It has the wildest, most complicated (and lethal) pharmacologic actions I have ever encountered.
METH and Heroin are pink punch by comparison. Ecstasy works drastically on many of the body’s hormones and neurotransmitters apparently simultaneously.
I was astonished to see one if it’s main actions was on Serotonin. I wrote a Masters Thesis on this in 1952. I think I was the first American to do so.
It was discovered in Italy and the U.S. in 1937. My professor thought it might be individual cardiac arrhythmias. It wasn’t (more below).
However, it does cause constriction of smooth muscle. It also acts in the brain where it affects sleep, mood, aggression, appetite, temperature, sexual behavior and pain. Time magazine, Sept. 1997, had a very long and excellent article about it. They called it THE MOOD MOLECULE. Serotonin launched the Antidepressant drugs, SSRI’s, Prozac, Zoloft, etc, etc, etc.
In addition to its effects on Serotonin, Ecstasy also affects norepinephrine, dopamine, and Oxycontin. When this devils brew is turned loose, weird things transpire. Concurrent amphetamines et al can be lethal. MAOI’s can also be lethal.
The pathological or dangerous effects of Ecstasy are really scary even from a one pill dose. These include seizures, hyperthermia with sweating, dehydration, and low blood sodium/blood coagulation disorders, cardiac arrhythmias including death by ventricular fibrillation, heart failure, stroke, renal failure, liver failure, et cetera.
Low doses have been used in psychiatry with some success. The biggest problem seems to be addiction liability like METH.
What really scares me is that some people seem to think this might be better than marijuana/cannabis for PTSD which has never killed ANYBODY!
NOPE, MJ/C IS STILL BEST AND SAFEST
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Marijuana/Cannabis, PTSD... and Ecstasy:Salem-News.com