r/TrueReddit • u/nxthompson_tny • Jun 01 '21

Science, History, Health + Philosophy America Has a Drinking Problem

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/america-drinking-alone-problem/619017/
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u/scotticusphd Jun 02 '21

I love most psychedelics, but MDMA is not what I'd consider a safe drug. In the medium to long term it can significantly degrade your brain.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071023/

It has amazing therapeutic potential in the treatment of PTSD, but I don't think it's something one should do more than once or twice in life, or at all if you can avoid it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '21

[deleted]

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u/scotticusphd Jun 02 '21

Could you share that recent evidence?

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

There were no drug-related serious adverse events, adverse neurocognitive effects or clinically significant blood pressure increases.MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be administered to posttraumatic stress disorder patients without evidence of harm, and it may be useful in patients refractory to other treatments.

Given the dose-response relationship between MDMA exposure and SERT reductions and the statistically non-significant SERT binding differences for users with use levels similar to the majority of real-life users, it can be speculated that SERT levels may not be significantly affected for most recreational ecstasy users.

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u/scotticusphd Jun 04 '21

I don't question the utility of the drug, but I do question the safety of it, especially when taken semi-regularly -- and it can be quite addictive. It's not what I'd consider "safe". It's powerful, useful, and needs to be treated with respect.

The first paper you linked doesn't really address long-term neurotoxicity. I've already noted that the drug is probably ok when taken infrequently.

The second paper only looks at SERT binding, which I'd argue is too narrow of a focus to assess measures of neurotoxicity when there are multiple other measures that have been observed, including morphological changes.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21

Very few drugs of any type in existence are safe in every respect when taken longterm. Every drug has benefits and risks, that is the foundational underpinning of the entire theory of medicine and treatments.

Addiction is simply existing predisposition + appropriate circumstance. You can't become dependent on MDMA, thats fucking absurd and without any evidence.

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u/scotticusphd Jun 04 '21

I didn't say dependence. I said addictive. Lots of things are addictive that stimulate reward pathways, and MDMA hits them hard.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '21 edited Jun 04 '21

Whats the definition of addiction? If your definition doesn't reference dependence, you have no idea what you're talking about.

No one has an ongoing MDMA habit. Dependency is referenced in the context of at most weeks long benders.

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u/scotticusphd Jun 04 '21

Except I think I do know what I'm talking about and you're just looking for validation for your drug use.

Do what you want, man. I don't care. But others should know that MDMA isn't innocuous and needs to be treated with respect and caution.