[extropy-chat] H+, autism, selection effects, biases

[Gary Miller]

 The article also cited:

>>When he saw doctors at the addiction centre at St George's Hospital,
Tooting, south London, he was still using cannabis, >>and said he had
previously taken solvents, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, LSD, cocaine, and
heroin. 

How could any medical professional with any reasonable certainty make any
conclusions as to which of these substance caused the long term problems.
Just because he did the Ecstasy the most frequently?  When solvents can be
known to cause
brain damage with a single prolonged use?  

Sound to me like these doctors were on or fishing for one of George Dubyah's
anti drug PR research grants.

To me the combination of substances totally discredits any valid research
findings. And smacks of the worst kind of science for financial and
political gain.

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Martin Striz
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 5:06 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] H+, autism, selection effects, biases

On 6/30/06, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

> I've found that empathogens (MDMA/MDA) can extract enjoyable 
> experiences from encounters that otherwise wouldn't be worthwhile.
> Unfortunately, this isn't something you can do very often in life, 
> without fearing consequences.
>
> Apropos of nothing, do we have any deprenyl (selegiline) users here?
> Any cautionary tales of low (5 mg/week or so, for 40 yo) regimes, 
> long-term?

I've tried 5 mg/d for several weeks without much effect, although there may
have been confounds.  I'm always a little worried about the possibility of a
link between dopaminergics and parkinsonism or shizophrenism, although
that's probably only true for hardcore pharmacons like amphetamines which
enter the axon terminal.
Parkinson's results from a reduction in dopaminergic neurons, and
amphetamines have measurable toxicity on these fibers, but paradoxically
some claim that selegiline is neuroprotective on dopaminergic neurons.

MDMA/MDA are ring-substituted amphetamines with a completely different
pharmacological profile and more potent neurotoxicity, although it's unclear
whether that toxicity translates to longterm cognitive deficits (probably
not for anyone who keeps their dosage below 200 mg/month).  Significant
re-arborization of the axon terminals occurs by the fourth administration of
MDx compounds, although lots of people use it hundreds of times without
noticeable longterm effects (inversely proportional to age).

Then there's this guy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4874938.stm

It's unlikely that he actually took 40,000 hits.  That would be an average
of 12 a day (~1200 mg), every day, for the entire 9 year period.  Since he
has poor memory by his own admission, his report is questionable.  But even
if he only took 10,000 that should be a lesson.  Don't take 10,000 of
anything.  Not that we need to be told that.

Martin
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