"The hypothesis was that MDMA would make the negative memories less painful."
Recreational use of MDMA has given me panic attacks, increased anxiety, emotional dependence and depression. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence online that tells the same story, which is something you rarely hear anyone talk about. It seems like different people respond differently to MDMA. Perhaps it's dependent on your personality or brain chemistry. For people like me the effect on the serotonin system in the brain can be very dangerous and sometimes cause permanent damage.
I used to be very liberal towards drug use in general until I experienced the down sides first hand.
"Ecstasy is so consistently adulterated that when pure MDMA turns up on the street, it’s likely be to sold on the street under the name MDMA or sometimes “Molly.” Corporal Luc Chicoine, the national co-ordinator for the RCMP’s pharmaceutical and synthetic drug operations, has worked on the street in drug operations for 18 years and said he can’t remember ever seeing pure MDMA."
"For a sense of just what might be in a given pill, Hudson points to Ecstasydata.org — a Sacramento-based website listing active ingredients and proportions in mailed-in samples — which has tested thousands of hits of “ecstasy” since 2001.
A growing majority contain no ecstasy at all. Since 2010, 61% of 533 samples tested had no MDMA, with 111 containing the drug, and another 96 some combination of MDMA and other chemicals. Of 27 Canadian samples studied since 2010, 14 active chemicals were discovered, including caffeine, methamphetamine, benzylpiperazine (BZP) and procaine."
"Ecstasy" was originally used as a synonym for pure MDMA, before the crackdown on MDMA and its precursors. I have no idea how the term is used these days.
You say yourself that the evidence is anecdotal. There is evidence that points in many other directions, some of which are very promising and in need of further research.
Did you have a test kit to determine whether your experience was actually with pure MDMA?
> Did you have a test kit to determine whether your experience was actually with pure MDMA
This is pretty important when talking about recreational use of MDMA. It's often pretty hard to find reasonably pure MDMA in many parts of the US. For more information on what pure MDMA looks like and common adulterants, erowid.org is a great resource.
Recreational use of MDMA has given me panic attacks, increased anxiety, emotional dependence and depression. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence online that tells the same story, which is something you rarely hear anyone talk about. It seems like different people respond differently to MDMA. Perhaps it's dependent on your personality or brain chemistry. For people like me the effect on the serotonin system in the brain can be very dangerous and sometimes cause permanent damage.
I used to be very liberal towards drug use in general until I experienced the down sides first hand.