Comment · Fri, November 9, 2012
Research Suggests no Neurotoxicity in MDMA
Original post in this thread
PuffyCheek · 194 points
In partial response to what I've been reading in the bestof'd thread here at /drugs, I think it would be good to start a discussion about the neurotoxicity in MDMA.
I feel as if the harmful effects discussed in the thread were overblown. According to a research done by the Harvard Medical School last year in 2011, users who were asked to use MDMA under a controlled setting over a certain period of time showed no signs of cognitive impairment nor decreased mental ability.
So the question remains, why do we have so much evidence from past research studies that show otherwise? The researchers at Harvard Medical School responded by saying that past research studies lacked a proper control environment. What that means is that past research studies did not control their test group to make sure they didn't engage in unhealthy activities after ingesting MDMA (i.e. going to a rave and dancing for 8 hours straight).
No research since 2011 has proved Harvard Medical School's conclusion wrong, that MDMA is actually harmful to your brain. No other research studies that I could personally find had settings as controlled as the one conducted by HMS.
That being said, research was done…
What they were answering
NI3 · 1 points
I was under the impression that the "two month limit" was imposed as to prevent neurotoxicity. With this new data available, does this change previous claims or is it still necessary to wait that time period?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
It depends on a lot of factors. The 2 month limit is to err on the side of caution. However, there are also things to take into consideration like receptor down-regulation, which happens no matter what you do. It's reversible, but takes time. You also have to consider tolerance buildup due to your calcium channels. If you had memantine, then you could stop the tolerance buildup. DXM can be used too, but that has other side effects. So yes, supplementation can help. But there is no replacement for time off.