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Comment by knotty66 | Hacker News Reader

MDMA (if that is what you mean, as street 'Ecstasy' can contain any number of other ingredients) is by most metrics one of the safer recreational drugs out there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rational_scale_to_assess_...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660210

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MDMA isn't -that- harmful. You're assuming when you buy Ecstasy you're being solid pure MDMA, which often is not the case.

E.g. "Police link 25 deaths and counting from tainted Canadian ecstasy"

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/can...

"12th death linked to tainted ecstasy in Alberta, B.C."

http://www.vancouversun.com/12th+death+linked+tainted+ecstas...

"8 Alberta deaths linked to ecstasy-like drug"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/01/31/calga...

It's not fair to call tainted ecstasy deaths a result of drug use. Despite the fact tainted ecstasy is technically not ecstasy, if the industry was regulated it wouldn't happen.

"A cholesterol-lowering drug taken by 700,000 Americans — Bayer Pharmaceutical's Baycol — was pulled off the market Wednesday because of muscle destruction linked to 31 U.S. deaths and at least nine more fatalities abroad" http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-1788794.html

A larger number of Canadians also died from tainted pork from maple Leaf bacon

This is especially surprising since God explicitly told you not to eat pork almost 3000years ago.

Remember kids, pork and shellfish are evil - just so no.

MDMA is not old enough to show it's long term effects the way smoking or drinking has.

One study of 52 users that where hand selected out of 1500 that showed no cognitive impairment. http://www.addictionjournal.org/viewpressrelease.asp?pr=147 Others studies both before and after have demonstrated issues. The problem is it's hard to find good data on individuals before they started heavy use, and sleep deprivation and dehydration are linked to long term cognitive impairment.

However, if you look at the existing literature there is no large scale and long term study's demonstrating it's safety. And a lot of evidence that MDMA is dangerous.

You keep repeating "MDMA is not old enough..." but MDMA has been around since 1912, and used recreationally since the 60s. While there are certainly risks (mostly due to sourcing issues), negative effects are certainly subtle enough that after 40+ years of fairly widespread use, we haven't seen major epidemiological issues.

Furthermore, these risks must be balanced against the very tangible and easily observable psychological benefits. There's a reason psychotherapists used this drug.

You know what we're sure will ruin your future chances of holding down a job, will stunt your development, and might well lead to severe harm or even death?

Going to prison.

Putting people in prison for harming themselves is the height of absurdity.

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