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Comment by stahlkopf | Hacker News Reader

Interesting how the judge is outraged by the recommendation of 'Doctor X' to the person to discontinue their antidepressants before taking MDMA. Surely she must know the highly elevated risk of mixing anti-depressants and a drug like MDMA can cause Serotonin Syndrome and lead to death....

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An actual doctor would say: "Dont do MDMA. Don't get off your anti-depressants."

This is akin to abstinence-only sex education. It just doesn't work.

No, it's like abstinence-only Russian roulette education.

I'd agree if there weren't safe ways to have sex.

Breaking a treatment regimen to use a drug that wreaks havoc on the specific neurotransmitter the antidepressant acts on doesn't work.

There is no way to reliably control the outcome of stopping treatment and taking street drugs.

I think the judges point was that someone responsible would not recommend MDMA in these circumstances, rather than tell the other party to try and juggle their prescription medication and drug usage.

Dr. X doesn't think it's an issue: "Another asked about combining MDMA with an SSRI and Dr. X advises that there is a theoretical risk but, in his opinion, it is overestimated."

I was wondering if the judge was considering increased risk of suicide due to withdrawal from the antidepressant. But in my quick layman's research that particular anti-depressant doesn't seem to have that issue.

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