A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist | Hacker News Reader

A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist

bbc.com

44 pointsfzliu13 comments

I think empathy is the only cure to racism. Funny coincidence: MDMA was originally known as "empathy" instead of "ecstasy".

It's also the only psychedelic I'm aware of where there is no such thing as a bad trip. For example, putting people in a hospital room alone and then in an MRI machine would certainly cause a bad trip for some people on LSD or mushrooms, but this guy had a great time on MDMA (and anyone else would as well.)

It is mildly neurotoxic, though it seems the neurotoxicity is only an issue when you take it too frequently (more than 3x/year) or too much (over 2.5 mg/kg.)

Another interesting somewhat-related story is that of Daryl Davis. No MDMA involved, but lots of empathy and understanding.

Anyone know how to put it in the water supply?

Damn, there was a huge gathering of racists and otherwise unempathetic people 5 days ago...

This is clearly a joke, but just for completeness: This would be terrible idea as dosing is very important with this drug. Too little doesn't make sense, too much is extremely dangerous.

I’ve had bad trips on MDMA and know several other people who’ve also had the same experience.

Fascinating! Would you mind describing your experiences? I’ve done MDMA dozens of times and I’ve never come close to a “bad trip” unless I mixed it with another drug such as LSD.

If bad trip includes overdose or drug interactions, serotonin syndrome [1] is possible. The wiki even cites mdma as a cause.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome

Nah, that doesn't count. There are countless ways you can hurt yourself with things around the house if you use them wrong. Most people aren't educated about safe drug use (thanks to abstinence policy), yet the number of people having serious problems as a result of MDMA use is still lower than many other activities.

Exactly. There isn't a substance on earth that won't harm you when contaminated with impurities/taken at the wrong dose/taken with something else that interacts badly. Thankfully HN has trolls standing by with useless pedantry to keep us safe :)

Yes, there are serious drug interactions that can occur with MDMA. The one I’m most familiar with is not to take MDMA if you also take any MAOI, which is listed in that article.

Being hospitalized would certainly lead to a bad trip, in my opinion.

This is dangerous misinformation. Using MDMA in the wrong circumstances can easily lead to a bad trip.

I wonder if this would work for supremacists of different kinds.

GFP-1s show a reduction in addictive behavior. Wonder if they would affect cognitive biases.

this is a good story to drop your deep cover assignment.

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