199 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
8.9 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
If I may, I'd like to try and summarize some of the info about MDMA.
|
|
A more complete explanation was given somewhere earlier in this pile
|
|
of responses. The best books for further info are Ecstasy: The MDMA Story
|
|
and Psychedelics Encyclopedia. The Encyclopedia is by Peter Stafford.
|
|
I don't recall who wrote the other one.
|
|
|
|
On second thought, I'm just gonna copy this from Whole Earth Review. It's all
|
|
accurate and simplified.
|
|
|
|
MDMA (3,4 -Methylenedioxymethamphetamine)
|
|
|
|
Dosage: 100-150 mg/oral
|
|
|
|
Duration: 30-60 minutes to onset; 2-3 hour plateau; 6 hours to baseline
|
|
|
|
Effects: Ego softening; neurotically based fear dissolution; feelings of
|
|
emotionally based love and empathy. No visual effects. Lucidity retained, in-
|
|
depth communication facilitated. Present moment awareness heightened.
|
|
|
|
Side effects: Appetite loss; stimulation; mild jaw-clenching; mild to
|
|
moderate post-session fatigue. Occasional nystagmus (lateral eye wiggle).
|
|
Initial restlessness, nervousness, nausea, shivering or tremor.
|
|
CAUTION: May induce inappropriate and unintended emotional-bond imprinting.
|
|
Note: Reversible nerve cell toxicity has been reported in laboratory animals
|
|
at a dose equivalent to human consumption of 175 mg or more.
|
|
|
|
Contraindications: Concurrent use of stimulants or MAO inhibitors
|
|
(see Warning). Heart ailments, glaucoma, hypertension, aneurism or "stroke"
|
|
history, hepatic or renal disorders, diabetes or hypoglycemia.
|
|
|
|
Context: Light and warm environment; with a loved one or a few close friends,
|
|
but sometimes with many others in celebration.
|
|
|
|
So, that's what I have. Good luck on finding any other information.
|
|
|
|
Willie
|
|
wbogue@cwis.unomaha.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|
========================================================================
|
|
|
|
|
|
MDMA, aka Ecstasy, X, XTC, E, Adam, etc, etc...
|
|
|
|
Chemically:
|
|
----------
|
|
|
|
MDMA = 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine
|
|
MDA = 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine
|
|
|
|
MDMA = N-methyl-MDA = Adam
|
|
MDE = N-ethyl-MDA = Eve
|
|
|
|
O /\ /\ NHCH3
|
|
/ \ / \ / \ /
|
|
/ | | |
|
|
CH2 | | CH3
|
|
\ | |
|
|
\ / \ /
|
|
O \/
|
|
|
|
Replacing the NHCH3 with NH2 is MDA; Replacing it with NHCH2CH3
|
|
is MDE. MBDB is formed by replacing the CH3 with CH2CH3 (I forget
|
|
the chemical name of this offhand). Replacing the NHCH3 with
|
|
a double bond to an O atom gives you 3,4-methyeledioxyphenylacetone
|
|
which is typically the immediate precursor to MDA, MDMA & MDE.
|
|
Eliminating the radical entirely and replacing the CH3 with a
|
|
double bond to a CH2 gives isosafrole which is 3,4-methylenedioxy-
|
|
allylbenzene which is an essential oil.
|
|
|
|
If you slice off the first methylenedioxy ring you get
|
|
methamphetamine -- then replace the NHCH3 with NH2 and you're looking
|
|
at amphetamine.
|
|
|
|
Psychologically:
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
MDMA is *chemically* an amphetamine, but psychologically its
|
|
whats known as an empathogen-entactogen. There is some amphetamine
|
|
stimulant quality left, which enhances the empathogenic quality.
|
|
The empathogenic quality is basically the ability to communicate
|
|
things to others, and the ability to feel empathy towards others.
|
|
Its sort of an "external" quality, that opens lines of communication.
|
|
The stimulating quality and the empathogenic effect are what most
|
|
recreational users seem to be after. The entactogenic effect, on
|
|
the other hand, is an internal quality. Its a sense that the
|
|
world is sort of "and okay place to be" (that sounds kinda stupid
|
|
but its hard to describe... kinda like daily affirmation with
|
|
Stuart Smalley only its a genuine feeling...).
|
|
|
|
THESE ARE ACUTE EFFECTS!!!! You don't dose someone up with MDMA
|
|
and expect the high to last forever, thats not the concept...
|
|
|
|
Psychotherapeutic Use:
|
|
----------------------
|
|
|
|
The idea is to use the acute effects of the drug to massively
|
|
accelerate psychotherapy. The empathogenic effect has obvious
|
|
applications, both for use by the therapist and the patient.
|
|
It facilitates communication, trust, etc, ad nauseum.
|
|
|
|
The entactogenic effect is what does the work, however. It
|
|
strengthens the ego, and is *NOT* *NOT* dissasociative. It is
|
|
the only recreational drug that I have tried to date that has
|
|
allowed me to keep a clear mind without being dissasociative
|
|
or stoning (hell, it makes my mind clearer than it normally
|
|
is) -- confusion on MDMA is not a normally encountered
|
|
problem.
|
|
|
|
Now, if you read the book PiHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known
|
|
and Loved by Alexander Shulgin) or Through the Gateway of the
|
|
Heart [and I think you can find out how to get both of these from
|
|
the Misc FAQ on alt.drugs -- if not, I'll post], you will come
|
|
across very striking situations where the entactogenic effect of
|
|
MDMA can help. In particular, I believe its probably the best
|
|
way to get repressed memories to resurface that there is (provided
|
|
that the patient is prepared to remember them). The entactogenic
|
|
effect acts as an emotional brace so that the patient can
|
|
recall the event without going through incredible emotional
|
|
trauma. That allows the mind to relax its protection on those
|
|
memories and let the person remember them...
|
|
|
|
It is *not* another LSD. LSD, IMHO, is risky for doing this kind
|
|
of shit. MDMA does not cause bad trips, and the only psychological
|
|
risk that you're in for is that the person is going to not
|
|
get anything out of it.
|
|
|
|
Related Chemicals:
|
|
------------------
|
|
|
|
Amphetamine stimulants are just useless because while they facilitate
|
|
communications (and *lots* of communication), they tend to
|
|
not do anything for a persons emotions (other than maybe inflate
|
|
their ego).
|
|
|
|
MDA is similar to MDMA, but its an empathogen-entheogen rather
|
|
than an empathogen-entactogen. It (as opposed to MDMA) does make
|
|
one stoned, and at higher doses it tends to be hard to remember
|
|
the first part of the sentence that a person is speaking. Its
|
|
generally not considered anywhere near as useful for therapy as
|
|
MDMA, although some researchers have had some success with it.
|
|
MDE has roughly the same effects as MDA (offhand I can't recall
|
|
the details of the differences and I have never tried MDE before).
|
|
|
|
Neurochemically, MDA and MDMA are quite different. Their active
|
|
isomers are switched, and MDA seems to effect the 5-HT2 receptor
|
|
where MDMA is inactive.
|
|
|
|
MBDB has a somewhat similar effect to MDMA, and has been proposed
|
|
as the prototypical entactogenic drug. Its not as useful as
|
|
MDMA, however, since it doesn't facilitate the same amount of
|
|
communication. Only about 50% of the people who take it feel that
|
|
its comparable to MDMA. Neurochemically the difference is that
|
|
MBDB seems to release less dopamine than MDMA for one thing.
|
|
|
|
Side effects and other crap:
|
|
----------------------------
|
|
|
|
MDMA doesn't cause parkinson's disease -- MPTP which an entirely
|
|
different drug (an opiate) does. MDMA doesn't dry up your
|
|
spinal fluid -- thats a completely stupid and silly concept to
|
|
begin with. The way that researcher's have been *testing* for
|
|
MDMA damage is to draw a spinal tap. What they are looking for
|
|
is lower levels of 5-HIAA which might indicate damage to
|
|
5-HT neurons. In short they haven't found anything convincing
|
|
in humans. In animals it takes large doses over consecutive
|
|
days to produce neurotoxicity (bursting of 5-HT axons, which
|
|
is reparable). With smaller doses with longer time periods
|
|
in between, there is no evidence of neurotoxicity. I have
|
|
never heard of MDMA producing paranoia or schizophrenic breaks
|
|
or anything like that -- that is an effect one might expect of
|
|
classical amphetamines or LSD (respectively). MDMA may actually
|
|
be useful in treating patients with paranoia or schizoid features.
|
|
MDMA is a damn safe drug, certainly more safe than alcohol. The
|
|
only problems would be due to its exaggerating existing heart
|
|
conditions. And also, as recently happened in England, the
|
|
stimulant qualities could make a person overextert themselves
|
|
without knowing it (however, thats really quite rare -- 7 cases
|
|
is nothing compared with the wreckage due to alcohol).
|
|
|
|
For more info check out the alt.drugs FAQ... or the books cited
|
|
above (And add MDMA: the Ecstasy Story as another good one to
|
|
check out...).
|
|
|
|
So, have I cleared most everything up, or are there more questions?
|
|
|
|
ps. and _Psychedlic Encyclopedia_ is a reference that I forgot in the
|
|
original posting, but which is *very* good and for more than just
|
|
MDMA -- it also covers LSD, DMT, Harmaline, Psilocybin/Psilocyn,
|
|
and THC.
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
Lamont Granquist lamontg@u.washington.edu
|
|
"When dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases."
|
|
-- Robert Anton Wilson
|
|
|
|
|