LA County teaching kids how to use ecstasy "safely"

[chanel]

The glow-stick industry may be buzzing over the latest public service announcement from Los Angeles County, but some say it amounts to an backhanded endorsement of illicit drug use.

Amid ongoing debate over safety and security measures at rave dance parties held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, county health officials have quietly launched a campaign to offer guidelines for safe use of MDMA, more popularly known as “ecstasy”.

Anyone familiar with this drug?

 

[chanel]

If they are so concerned about "education" I would suggest showing autopsy pictures of the kids whose blood has boiled after using it. Maybe even include the screams of pain they gave out while they were in the hospital burning from the inside out. That might make an impression, eh?

 

[FifthColumn]

When will they stop treating American children like lab rats?

 

[Sheldon]

That's a pretty comprehensive list. Lots of fluids and no booze are the most important imo. Better to get this information out there than pretending x use doesn't happen at raves and clubs.


btw there's no link in the OP.

 

[chanel]

You don't teach people how to do illegal things safely. We don't tell kids how to drive drunk - even though many do it anyway. We show them pictures of dead kids.

You play with fire; you will get burned. Literally.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/02/07/buzz-kill-la-county-wants-you-to-take-ecstasy-safely/

 

[Sheldon]

You don't teach people how to do illegal things safely. We don't tell kids how to drive drunk - even though many do it anyway. We show them pictures of dead kids.

You play with fire; you will get burned. Literally.

I just not upset by this. Maybe it's a difference in morality or something. I favor time-and-place education over ignorance in this case.

 

[BlindBoo]

You don't teach people how to do illegal things safely. We don't tell kids how to drive drunk - even though many do it anyway. We show them pictures of dead kids.

You play with fire; you will get burned. Literally.

Buzz Kill: LA County Wants You To Take Ecstasy Safely « CBS Los Angeles

We tell them not to drive if they are drunk though don't we?

Same difference.

 

[strollingbones]

i know about x.MDMA...i know enough to leave it be...its a sex enhancing drug..used at raves and large parties...

occasional use is suppose to be okay....but daily use or overuse (to me..using it once is overuse) can eat holes in your brain

Data suggest that MDMA may be toxic to the brain. Dr. George Ricaurte, an associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University, analyzed brain scans of people who had used ecstasy. The study included people who had used ecstasy an average of 200 times over five years. Although the behavior of these people appeared normal, brain scans showed that the drug had damaged their brains. In fact, those who used the drug more often had more brain damage than less frequent users. Moreover, memory tests of people who have taken ecstasy as compared to non-drug users have shown that the ecstasy users had lower scores.

Specifically, the drug damaged cells that release the neurotransmitter called serotonin. Using an imaging technique called positron emission tomography (PET), Ricaurte noted a 20-60% reduction in healthy serotonin cells in the drug users. Damage to these cells could affect a person's abilities to remember and to learn.

At this point, scientists do not know if this damage is permanent, or if those damaged cells will replace themselves. Also, it is not known if this loss of cells affects behavior or the ability to think. Ricaurte is conducting other studies to gauge ecstasy's effect on mood, memory, cognition, and behaviors such as eating and sleeping. In 2003, German researchers used PET scans to study the brains of current and past users of ecstasy. This research demonstrated that ecstasy users had lower levels of serotonin activity in several brain areas. However, ecstasy users who stopped using the drug 20 weeks before the scan showed some recovery in serotonin function.

Information from brain scans of people is valuable, but it is difficult to control the different variables when using human subjects. Perhaps some of the students didn't report their drug use accurately. Maybe they didn't remember how many times they had used ecstasy. To be able to control the variables more carefully in a study, Ricaurte looked for help from animal experiments. In an article published in The Journal of Neuroscience (June 15, 1999), Ricaurte compared the data from monkeys who were given ecstasy dissolved in a liquid twice a day for four days to other monkeys who received the same liquid WITHOUT the ecstasy twice a day for four days. The study showed that the monkeys who were given ecstasy had damage to the serotonin-containing nerve cells. This damage was still visible seven years later!. Areas that were especially affected were the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex, an area in the front part of the brain that is used in thinking, and the hippocampus, an area deep in the brain that helps with memory. Although damage was still observed seven years later, it was less severe than when it was observed two weeks after drug use. This suggests that some regrowth could have occurred, but that it is far from complete.

Neuroscience For Kids - MDMA (Ecstasy)

 

[Article 15]

Yes, I am very familiar with the drug. No, I do not think it's bad to put out information that may save lives.

 

[Douger]

Fuck. What ever happened to bong hits, 'shrooms and shots of tequila ?
murkin kids are nuts !

 

[editec]

Did you miss the "STAY AWAY" caveat?

No, you merely choose to pretend that it didn't exist.

Typical