well it seems that johns hopkins screwed the pooch in a major way and has retracted their findings, that supposedly proved ecstacy would fry your brain in as little as one night....this study published last year, had stirred up shitloads of controversy, as it allegedly validated all of the worst government and media scare tactic b/s hype...the study said 3 moderate doses, which in their view was a typical night's usage at a rave, could cause permanent damage to dopamine receptors and in 10 percent of the cases cause death....reputable researchers had been disagreeing, but as the government is firmly anti-drug, even where it may have clinical use, reason was drowned in the screams to puit an end to this drug.
turns out, that the supplier had mislabled the vials, and they did not contain MDMA, but Methamphetamine, and pure at that...also studies were done on baboons, not people, though you would think they might have noticed a difference in the expected behavior, but then baboons aren't people...also came out the doses were considerably larger than a typical dose of x, and much larger than of speed of course, so no wonder they got the results they did....upside is that the door is opened back up for clinical testing of MDMA in treatment of PTSD and other mental conditions, which many scientists believe will prove to be a valuable drug for treating these disorders...it was also pointed out, that had the hopkins study been valid there should be thousands of people suffering symptoms requiring treatment, and many deaths....point of fact, there have been no deaths directly atributed to MDMA, though one or two people did allow themselves to die by overheating or dehydration, which happens more regularly without using ecstacy....when will they stop trying to shove stupid lies down the public's throat concerning drugs, and be honest....if you want to have kids listen, you can't keep lying so obviously...maybe more of these anti-drug fuckheads need to experience real life, because then they might change their views.
Posted by Angstman at September 6, 2003 03:42 PM | TrackBackThere were 19,102 Deaths From Drug-Induced Causes in 1999 (legal and illegal drugs) (1999)
There were 175,000 Cocaine-Related Emergency Room Episodes in 1999 (2000)
One in eight people seeking help for drug problems is under 20 and heroin continues to be the most frequently reported drug, according to statistics recently published by the Department of Health
There were 601,776 estimated drug-related ED episodes in 2000 and, among these, there were 1,100,539 drug mentions. (More than one drug may be in a person's system at the time of admission.)
ED visits involving the club drug MDMA (Ecstasy) increased 58 percent in the U.S., from 2,850 visits in 1999 to 4,511 in 2000.
More than half of the estimated costs of drug abuse were associated with drug-related crime. These costs included lost productivity of victims and incarcerated perpetrators of drug- related crime (20.4 percent); lost legitimate production due to drug-related crime careers (19.7 percent); and other costs of drug-related crime, including Federal drug traffic control, property damage, and police, legal, and corrections services (18.4 percent). Most of the remaining costs resulted from premature deaths (14.9 percent), lost productivity due to drug-related illness (14.5 percent), and healthcare expenditures (10.2 percent).
Posted by: Geoffrey at September 6, 2003 05:44 PMnever fucking fails...someone always misses my point...i am well aware of the problems drug usage can cause, but it is really the cost of people not being capable of being responsible for themselves....for all your grim stats, they pale in comparison to alcohol related death, misery and such...so i think people need to back the fuck off about the rest until that is fixed...my point here was how shit gets blown out of proportion by the media, especially when encouraged to do so by intolerant government policy...less than 5,000 er visits btw is nothing, not even a drop in the bucket....there are probably 5 times that number for the exact same reasons, heat exaustion, and/or severe dehydration not cause by or involving drugs, just stupidity, or poor judgement...people will find ways to kill or hurt themselves no matter what, for many reasons...some are better than others, but it is really part of life...in case you wonder, i do not believe that most people should ever do any drugs, as most people seem to handle any type of intoxication poorly at best...only a complete fool fucks with any opiate even under medical supervision, unless there is no other choice...as for the rest, drugs are not bad for eceryone, nor a problem for many...much probably depends on individual body chemistry as much as anything...personally i avoid even most over the counter shit, as i am too prone to unpleasant side effects, and am sensative to all NSAIDS...some drugs don't work at all on me, others too well, and so on....my real beef is with the attitude taken by the masses, based on little or no factual knowledge....ignorance annoys me, and hypocracy really pisses me off, and to much of the anti-drug hysteria is based firmly in both.
Posted by: Angstman at September 7, 2003 01:23 AMIf the medical reasons aren't enough, then look up the drug related crime statistics.
Posted by: Geoffrey at September 7, 2003 08:23 AMthat just provides the best justification for decriminalization
Posted by: Angstman at September 7, 2003 01:23 PMHow the hell does people committing crimes while on drugs or to obtain money for drugs justify decriminalization? It seems as though it justifies higher penalties to me.
Posted by: Geoffrey at September 7, 2003 06:57 PMif you legalize drugs, you could spend the money pissed away fighting "the war on drugs" for more useful things, like treatment, and effective education...legal drugs would also be less expensive, reducing the amount of money people wanting to get high need to do so, and allowing some of them to having to commit other crimes to feed their habbits...besides the #1 drug involved in crime is alcohol, which is already legal
Posted by: Angstman at September 9, 2003 05:29 AM