A real fMRI high: my ecstasy brain scan
September 19, 2012
5,6-Methylenedioxy-N-methyl-2-aminoindane (credit: Wikipedia)
New Scientist reporter Graham Lawton is taking part in a groundbreaking study on MDMA, the drug commonly known as ecstasy.
The research is run by David Nutt of Imperial College London, a former government adviser and one of the few UK researchers licensed to study class-A drugs. Objectives: discover what MDMA does to the human brain and study MDMA as a therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Comments (6)
by anttionline
MDMA contains 2 more hydrogen atoms (total 15) than presented in figure, and with MDMA the second aromatic carbon ring is not closed. This figure is for MDMAI, also a serotonin release agent, however less potent and lacking the neurotoxicity of MDMA. If this chemical is used instead of MDMA then legal status is not an issue, as it seems to me MDMAI is not yet classified as schedule ‘A’ drug, rather it would belong in the class of “research chemicals” often designed to circumvent legal restrictions on manufacture and sale of classified substances.
The following from wikipedia:
MDMAI can be thought of as a cyclised analogue of MDMA where the alpha-methyl carbon of the alkylamino side chain has been joined back round to the 6-position of the aromatic ring to form an indane ring system. This changes the core structure of the molecule from phenethylamine to aminoindane, and causes the pharmacological properties of the two compounds to be substantially different.
by Patrick
I can’t believe it hasn’t been done before. it really kinda pisses me off. think of all the amazing things we could do as a species if only we would stop creating barriers in our minds and about what’s acceptable in society. our consciousness can literally be changed and and maybe even really improved and thats a miracle. We should be studying that to figure out the limits of human experience and the true reality of consciousness expansion amazing we can become our
by John
It’s certainly not the first time MDMA being studied, neither as PTSD treatment.
Btw. wikipedia link and the picture describe some MDMAI (which is not MDMA).
by guy1
It’s the first time this has been done. Groundbreaking as in the beginning of a building. The start of something.
by John
What’s groundbreaking about this, one might ask?
by Primer
Try reading the linked article first. You question was answered in the 6th paragraph.
“His main aim is to discover what MDMA does to the human brain, something that, remarkably, has never been done before. A second goal is to study MDMA as a therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.”