Comment by jeffbr13 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jeffbr13 | Hacker News Reader

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This really bothered me in an article remembering a man who spent most of his life studying and trying to raise awareness of psychoactive chemicals:

> Ecstasy, known as MDMA

It's MDMA (the chemical compound 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) that's usually known as "Ecstasy", but many other chemicals are also sold as "Ecstasy" as well.

Very few people die from MDMA overdose, or even the effects of MDMA, but that doesn't always extend to the other chemicals sold as ecstasy[1] - I was at the Warehouse Project opening night last year where a guy died and several others were put in induced comas because they were supplied with PMA rather than MDMA[2]. Whether or not you agree with using psychoactive chemicals recreationally, any misinformation can be dangerous to the people who will use them. I feel this error should have been caught by the editor.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDMA#Purity_and_dosage_of_.22e... [2]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-24314997

Typically ecstasy is MDMA pressed in pill form together with an amphetamine, although as you noted MDMA is often changed out for some other 'research chemical' that is cheaper to source, and sometimes very dangerous.

Yet another obvious reason to legalize all recreational drugs...

'Typically' seems unlikely to me. I am not up to speed (no pun intended) on drug manufacturing/distribution, but years ago I wrote a psychopharmacology meta-study on the topic and most research I remember found that 'mixtures' or 'cuts' with two 'mainstream' active drugs were very uncommon due to increased costs and independent value. Most often, the active ingredient would be wholly substituted or mislabeled.

Perhaps that's changed, but it seems far more likely that cheaper substitutes would be used (ephedrine, 'research chemicals', etc).

PMA ? what the actual fuck, whoever did this deserves a slow and painful death.

For the record, the nickname of the drug PMA is 'Dr. death'. very easy to OD on this shit.

This stuff happens quite a lot. And yes they do deserve a slow and painful death.

From what I understand, PMA/PMMA is what you get if you start with (relatively easy to source) anisole rather than the controlled MDA/MDMA precursor safrole. Then you have a product that you might be able to sell, maybe, and if you tell people anything you tell them it's "extra strong" or some other crap.

And yeah, when batches of these things come to market, kids die.

Of course, the reason safrole is more controlled than anisole in the first place is that it can be used to make MDMA, which is both safe and effective as a recreational drug.

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