MDMA

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Canada Takes Bold Step to 'Remove the Shame' on Drugs

Small amounts of 'hard' drugs to be temporarily decriminalized in British Columbia to fight ODs

(Newser) - If you're busted in British Columbia with a small amount of hard drugs, you could soon see some grace, thanks to an innovative new program designed to deal with the OD crisis. The BBC reports that, starting at the end of January, drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy), and...

Psychedelic Drug Shows Great Promise for PTSD Sufferers

Therapy assisted by MDMA (aka ecstasy) could be approved by 2023

(Newser) - Ecstasy appears on track to become an FDA-approved prescription treatment if the results of the first Phase 3 trial on psychedelic-assisted therapy are any indication. As the New York Times reports, 67% of PTSD patients who were given a dose of the drug during therapy no longer qualified for a...

Woman Takes Single, Fatal Sip of Wine
Woman Dies After
Single Sip of Wine

Woman Dies After Single Sip of Wine

It was laced with MDMA

(Newser) - A Belgian woman opened a bottle of red wine to enjoy with a friend, took one sip, and soon collapsed. Five days later, she was dead. Authorities say the wine was laced with MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, and just one sip gave the 41-year-old a fatal dose of...

Ecstasy May Affect Octopuses in Same Way It Affects Humans
Ecstasy
May Make
Octopuses
Cuddly
study says

Ecstasy May Make Octopuses Cuddly

New study finds octopuses appear to get more social after being dosed with MDMA

(Newser) - What happens when an octopus takes ecstasy? Apparently, the same thing that happens to humans—at least according to a new, admittedly small study run by Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, makes people feel more sociable, less...

Study Finds World's Safest Recreational Drug

Magic mushrooms resulted in fewest emergency room visits in 2016

(Newser) - A massive drug survey has labeled hallucinogenic mushrooms as the safest recreational drug in the world—though ensuring you're consuming a psychedelic variety of fungi, rather than some poisonous version, is rather important. This year's Global Drug Survey , with 120,000 participants in 50 countries, found that 0....

Ecstasy Moves Step Closer to Becoming Prescription Drug

FDA approves large-scale trials of drug for those suffering from PTSD

(Newser) - More than 30 years after it was outlawed as a widely abused party drug, researchers are once again using ecstasy to treat people with mental health problems. The FDA gave the green light Tuesday to large-scale trials of the drug, which is the last step before it can be approved...

4 Students Charged in Wesleyan 'Molly' ODs

At least 2 people still reportedly being treated after overdoses

(Newser) - Four students are facing charges after 11 students at Wesleyan University were hospitalized with overdoses of MDMA, or "Molly," this weekend. Zachary Kramer, Eric Lonergan, Rama Agha Al Nakib, and Andrew Olson, all aged 20 or 21, were arrested yesterday; they were also suspended from their studies, NBC...

Cops: Wesleyan Students Took Bad Batch of MDMA

2 Wesleyan students in critical condition

(Newser) - A bad batch of MDMA is believed to have caused overdoses that sent 11 students to the hospital, according to police in Middletown, Conn. Police say at least two of the Wesleyan University students are in critical condition after taking the drug—also known as Molly—on Saturday night, reports...

'Godfather of Ecstasy' Dead at 88
 'Godfather 
 of Ecstasy' 
 Dead at 88 
obituary

'Godfather of Ecstasy' Dead at 88

Chemist Sasha Shulgin was a 'psychedelic pioneer'

(Newser) - A chemist named Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin has died at age 88, notes Gawker , and while that might not be a household name, his nickname explains the attention: "godfather of ecstasy." Shulgin didn't invent the drug otherwise known as MDMA, but he "rescued the circa-1912 pharmaceutical...

Traffic Stop Leads to College Drug Ring's Collapse

Arizona cop smelled pot, found ecstasy

(Newser) - When a trooper pulled over 20-year-old Andrew Gajkowski in December, the officer was only planning on giving him a ticket for driving solo in the HOV lane. But then he smelled marijuana wafting out of the window, and searched the car. Even then, what he found was unexpected: A bag...

Cee Lo Accused of Drugging Woman
Cee Lo Accused of
Drugging Woman

Cee Lo Accused of Drugging Woman

Singer's lawyer says claim just an extortion attempt

(Newser) - A woman accusing Cee Lo Green of sexual assault claims that the music star drugged her with Ecstasy, and she secretly recorded a conversation in which he admits guilt, reports TMZ . The woman says she went on a date with Cee Lo in July, but woke up hours later naked...

For the Dying, Psychedelic Drugs Ease That Final Trip

Doctors exploring psychedelics for trauma, addiction, depression

(Newser) - Psychedelic drugs, once the domain of the free-lovin' hippies of the '60s, are coming under the microscope of very serious scientists of the current decade. A number of studies show that psilocybin, MDMA, and other psychedelics can ease a range of traumas and afflictions including headaches, PTSD, addiction, and...

Everybody Hates Madonna
 Everybody Hates Madonna 

Everybody Hates Madonna

Other than 'MDNA' release, singer hasn't had greatest week

(Newser) - The latest to slam Madonna: electronic musician Paul van Dyk, who calls her "so stupid" in Billboard . "She made the biggest mistake of her career" when she apparently referenced drugs "in front of a crowd of 18-year-olds" at the Ultra Music Festival on Saturday, he says. Madonna,...

Ecstasy Can Treat Cancer: Study

Researchers find a way to drastically boost its effectiveness

(Newser) - Could ecstasy cure cancer? The idea suddenly doesn’t seem so farfetched. Researchers at Birmingham University have found a way to boost its cancer-suppressing powers 100-fold, making it a potentially viable treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma, the Telegraph reports. Ecstasy was already known to fight many white blood cell...

Getting High on Ecstasy May Help Soldiers' PTSD

...provided it's taken during therapy sessions

(Newser) - The federal government has given its blessing to the practice of letting US soldiers get high on ecstasy, all in the name of finding a way to cope with post traumatic stress disorder. One catch: It has to be taken while in therapy sessions. Two researchers—with OKs from the...

Cops Take Dim View of 'Sparkle' Drug

Mystery ingredients scare health experts

(Newser) - No sooner is one apparently dangerous drug made illegal when another pops up. Now, just days after Britain cracked down on the stimulant mephedrone following deaths linked to the drug, police are warning about the latest legal high, "Sparkle." The drug, dubbed "legal mephedrone," causes euphoria...

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