Drug labelling error forces retraction...

[DdC]

WASHINGTON (AP) - A prestigious scientific journal is retracting a study about the effects of the drug Ecstasy on the brain because the animals used in the research were given a different drug.

The researchers blamed the error on a labelling mix-up. Previous studies had reported on the brain hazards of Ecstasy, and the researchers said the problems with their study did not call into question the earlier ones.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University reported in September 2002 that key neurons in the brains of squirrel monkeys and baboons were damaged when the animals were given doses of Ecstasy that mimicked those often taken by users of the drug during all-night dance parties.

The researchers said the study raised questions about whether Ecstasy - also known as MDMA - might hasten the onset of Parkinson's disease, a disorder triggered by the permanent loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells. It was those nerve cells that were reported to have been damaged by Ecstasy in the Johns Hopkins research.

In retracting the story, the journal Science said Friday that the researchers discovered that labels on drugs supplied to them by an outside company were incorrect and the animals had actually been given a different drug, methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine would be expected to produce the brain damage seen in the animals, the researchers said in their retraction.

Ecstasy is methylenedioxymetham phetamine. Both are forms of amphetamine but with different added chemicals and chemical action, said researcher Dr. Una McCann.

She explained that a bottle of MDMA and a bottle of methamphetamine were delivered to the lab the same day, from the same supplier, for different research purposes.

When the researchers had trouble duplicating some of their work they began to suspect problems, she explained. They had the bottle labelled methamphetamine analysed by three labs and all reported it was pure MDMA - and the brains of two animals that had died following the experiment were found to contain methamphetamine, not MDMA.

"It's a difficult situation . . . We pick up where we left off and see what we can do to prevent this from happening again, and we correct the record," McCann said.

She said the laboratory has developed a test for use in future studies to make sure it is using the actual drug that the research calls for.

Drug labelling error forces retraction
Poster: puff_tuff
Friday, September 05, 2003
The Canadian Press

Enough time to ram the Rave Ax through though!

How convenient...

Next thing ya know they'll just flat out lie!
DdC



About Ashcroft

Drug Policy Alliance Web site
Three dangerous bills are the RAVE Act (H.R. 718), the CLEAN-UP Act (H.R. 834), and the Illicit Drugs Anti-Proliferation Act (S. 226). While aimed at the very real problem of substance abuse, the bills go too far by punishing business owners for the drug offenses of their customers and threatening to shut down concerts, circuit parties, dance clubs, and other forms of entertainment. Business owners could be jailed for enacting health measures that save lives - such as teaching their staff first-aid. You could even go to jail for 20 years for throwing a party in your own home.


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The Ganjawar is a Product Sold by D.E.A.th to Profit Fascist ... DdC


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[DdC]

September 06, 2003
By Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer
Source: Washington Post

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University who last year published a frightening and controversial report suggesting that a single evening's use of the illicit drug ecstasy could cause permanent brain damage and Parkinson's disease are retracting their research in its entirety, saying the drug they used in their experiments was not ecstasy after all.

The retraction, to be published in next Friday's issue of the journal Science, has reignited a smoldering and sometimes angry debate over the risks and benefits of the drug, also known as MDMA.

Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17241.shtml



Report of Ecstasy Drug's Great Risks Is Retracted
September 06, 2003
By Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Source: New York Times

A leading scientific journal yesterday retracted a paper it published last year saying that one night's typical dose of the drug Ecstasy might cause permanent brain damage.

The monkeys and baboons in the study were not injected with Ecstasy but with a powerful amphetamine, said the journal, Science magazine. The retraction was submitted by the team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that did the study.

Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17240.shtml

Hate to waste a rant...

Only the sick puritanicals and profiteers keep this somedrug war going!

The RAVE Ax was designed for hempfests.
Fascism and grazing sheople feeding on Fauxnewz dittoads corporate propaganda. Billions of tax paid profits perpetuating the Ganjawar and keeping Ganja competition off the free trade market. Censorships been tried each year since prop 215 emerged. The Meth Act banned talk of hemp on the internet. Would they lie? Would they murder? Just for a multi billion dollar business? Enron ethics makes it all too obvious. Toking Ganja ain't the problem or even a major factor in the equation. Its simple corporatism. Profits on fossil fools pesticides and chemical adulterations Ganja/hemp doesn't require. Profits on the Prison and the paraphernalia needed for the 2 million inmates. Most in for non violent drug offences not by coincidence. From the 12 pounds of chemical grain for each pound of exported meat as their lobbiest buy hemp seed laws. Illegal nutrition!. Chemically processed trees and paper and cotton using tons of chemicals hemp doesn't need. The booze and pharmaceuticals fearing something that grows free in the herb garden. All the bored soccer moms and grannies saving the kids with DARE Partnership mind molestations, while they're raped in a juvi holding cell busted for possessing what Klintoon did, inspite of inhaling. Copshops and DEAths bloated budgets and all the trinkets each one needs is sold by someone, to keep the gravy train WoD going. The RAVE puts the fear of Ashcrofts god into anyone holding a hempfest or Ganja education gathering like at Rainbow Farm. 250 grand fine to the promoters if someone gets busted. A lesser evil than what Tom and Rollie got. Demonkrat Bidens RAVE rider based on the lies about XTC the same as they've done with Ganja and THC.
Peace, Love and Liberty or the Treason of D.E.A.th!
DdC

[Hooked]

The funny thing is, that if you bought 'Ecstasy' today, there's probably a very good change there's methamphetamine in there. Today, ecstasy simply refers to the pill, which often contains only small amounts of MDMA. We want the pure stuff...

Kinda sad though. It'll be even harder to convince people that this stuff doesn't put holes in your head. "It was all mis-labeled..."

Easier just to say it's 'Bullshit' and leave it at that.

[ZenSkin]

ROFL

Maybe the researchers should try the stuff before they subject the monkeys to it.

I've never had an interest in club drugs or X ... knowing, as Hooked does, that I'd probably never get real MDMA from some kid outside a rave.

I hate to sound like a dick but the ravers brought the rave act on themselves by being greedy.

The 60's acid scene suffered the same problem. For years real acid was legal and used by psychonauts looking for insight and a good time in the spirit of the Beat poets. Then greedy drug dealers started selling poison for a few bucks a hit to bourgeois wannabees.