Ecstasy puts you in comas

Recently posted to a newsgroup I frequently read:

(spelling errors not fixed for effect)

Hi,

This is Aticston, and, I want you too see what drugs are. They are not fun, they are not cool, hip, or in style.

They are not too just 'enhance' your pleasure, as if you were doing them to just do that, there probley wasen't much too begin with, and why they hurt others.

Inclosed is a picture, I drew it in such a hurry, so please, just ignore the artwork. I just want you too see, or even try too think of the day I had too walk into the hospital room, a friend of mine in a 2 day coma, all because of a little drug called 'X' or 'Extasy'. It has other names (Date rape drug) but, I just want you too try and imagine what I felt that day. I felt so wrong for not trying too help him, for not trying too get him too stop. He was my friend, I thought he knew better, why would I judge him?

I was more wrong then him, not trying too stop him from doing 'X' and other drugs, its just, its hard. You care for you friends? Why would you want too hurt them? Why would you ever want to hurt another person you care about?

Today, I know too step in and at least try, even so far as freaking out completly, just too make my point known on this. I don't see him anymore, as he went back too his ways like nothing ever happend, and I for one don't want too step into another hospital room like that again.....

-Aticston

Yes, its true. People out there DO think doing E puts you in comas. People out there DO think its called the date rape drug. Many people out there are heavily influenced by what they hear in the news and on television because they figure if they see it on television it must be true. Just another batch of ignorance adding fuel to the fire.

Maybe MDMA won't put you into a coma, but Ecstasy might. Let me explain.

Ecstasy is supposed to be drug slang for MDMA. I say "supposed" because E is (or so I'm told, ahem) not just for Ecstasy but also for Expensive. In my hometown (or so I am told by various deranged substance abusers), a pill of E costs $25 to $30.

This naturally includes a fair profit margin. More than one unscrupulous drug dealer has realized that if he adulterates MDMA with some other, cheaper, substance that kinda sorta feels like MDMA, he can expand that margin even further. DXM is one common adulterant of E; I have also heard of 2CB being used.

The upshot of this is that every time you take that tiny little pill, you are playing Russian Roulette with your one-and-only brain. The e-mail transcribed in AmadeusTheKitten's writeup may be 100% truthful and correct. Who knows what this dumb kid really took?

Dr. Timothy Leary was once invited to testify before a Congressional committee on drugs, headed up by Teddy Kennedy. The subject, naturally, was LSD. Despite Kennedy's repeated attempts to trip up Leary and get him to say--on the record--that LSD is dangerous, Leary stuck to his guns. He said that the manufacture, sale and distribution of LSD should be legal but carefully monitored by the government--because otherwise "you do not know what you are getting."

Now, the good news. There are organizations such as DanceSafe which sell Ecstasy testing kits. These are little kits of chemical reagents that react a certain way with MDMA, another way with DXM, yet another way with 2CB, and so on. The Federal government has already tried several times to legislate them out of business (such as with the criminally unconstitutional Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act), so if you like your E, I suggest you stock up now. And keep an eye on the government; if they try to pull that shit again, tell them to knock it off.

Thanks to AmadeusTheKitten for pointing out this hysterical rubbish. I feel the need to respond particularly because of the misidentification of the "date rape drug". Keep in mind throughout this writeup that I am not speaking directly to AmadeusTheKitten, but rather to the poster of the quoted message (who I'm sure is not actually listening).

It's far more common than deaths and injuries from drug use, far more common than the dissemination of useful and valuable information regarding the popular substances of the day.

It is hysterical, non-factual, emotionally charged and over-hyped misinformation; usually spread by people with an axe to grind, or people concerned enough to tell people how to live, but not enough to investigate the facts for themselves.

I will respond to a few of the inaccuracies in the newsgroup post, partially because I am neurotically opposed to the presentation of falsehood where it might be construed as fact, and partially because misinformation kills teenagers (not the drugs some of them take).

First of all, Ecstasy is NOT THE DATE RAPE DRUG. The drug that spawned the term "roofies" is Flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol. It is a benzodiazepine anxiolytic and sometimes referred to as a sedative hypnotic. Although it can cause anterograde amnesia (the effects are similar to extreme alcohol intoxication), it is only dangerous when taken in large doses or when mixed with alcohol (mixing rohypnol and alcohol can be fatal, since mixing and matching your depressants can result in the depression of your involuntary body functions..you know...like breathing). Rohypnol is easily identifiable by the words "La Roche" printed on the tablet.

Another drug that is today (rarely) used as the "date rape drug" is GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate, C4H8NaO3), which does, in high doses, induce a state similar to a coma. It is typically found in salt or liquid form. GHB is used recreationally (and is even called "liquid E" in some areas), but the recreational dose threshold is extremely narrow, and a small overdose can be potentially dangerous. GHB could be used as a tool for sexual predators because it is extremely effective as a powerful depressant, at as low as 2-3 grams of powder (which can be condensed down to 2-3 ml of water!). As with rohypnol, it can easily be fatal when combined with alcohol. Although there has been a lot of artificial "bad press" about GHB in connection with sexual assault, it still can be used maliciously, despite it's bitter taste. Just because it's not "the original" date rape drug doesn’t make it any better if you've accidentally ingested it. Watch your drink. Always.

Spreading hysterical misinformation about drug use is one thing. Sexual assault, on the other hand, is just one of those things you should take more seriously and get your facts straight about.

The flaw in "Aticson"'s attitude at this point is that the individual is upset that it is difficult to get their friends to stop using "drugs". The individual knew of their friends drug use, but didn't say anything because of the conflict getting him to stop would cause. "Aticson", like so many other concerned luddites out there, has missed the obvious compromise. If "Aticson" had bothered to go to DanceSafe.org, Erowid.org, or Lycaeum.org and collected some useful information for their friend, the traumatic hospital visit (most likely) wouldn't have occurred. Instead, it was a choice between silence or condemnation, the end result of the sensationalism of American media. I'm not blaming the newsgroup poster for being confused into a state of silence by the popular media barrage, but it is unfortunate nonetheless.