11-07-2007, 06:03 PM
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FBOP Class Of 2013
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: bumfuck, ky
Posts: 35,562
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boo yah....
Quote:
DO PEOPLE OVERDOSE OFF OF ECSTASY AT RAVES ALL THE TIME? No. A majority of media reports about MDMA-related deaths at raves are misreported as overdoses. Here are some of the factors that can lead to the misinterpretation:
* MDMA is a stimulant-based drug.
* Stimulants naturally increase body temperature, sometimes to dangerous levels with higher doses.
* A majority of death victims from raves have fatally high body temperatures when found or pronounced dead.
* These victims are also usually found with some MDMA in their systems.
Because of all this, it is assumed that the overheating in such deaths is caused directly by MDMA toxicity in the user's system, the same way victims die with fatally high body temperatures from PMA or methamphetamine overdoses. But for a user to die directly of an ecstasy overdose, their body would have to be intoxicated with the equivalent of probably a few dozen or more pure MDMA pills, far more than the average dosage taken for a recreational experience. Recent research has also proven that for rats, MDMA does not necessarily increase body temperature. Rather, it reduces the body's ability to regulate its own temperature, making the rats more sensitive to their environment. If these findings are applicable to humans, then in an excessively cool environment for example, an MDMA user?s body temperature can drop to dangerous levels, possibly leading to hypothermia.
But in a hot environment such as a crowded rave, someone on ecstasy is under increased risk of overheating. Other factors such as poor ventilation inside the rave, ongoing physical exertion such as dancing all night, and not drinking enough water will furthermore increase these risks. Thus, the majority of ecstasy-related deaths from raves misreported as overdoses have actually been caused by a combination of hot environments, inadequate replenishment of bodily fluids, and the use of as little as one pill of MDMA. There are few documented cases of MDMA users dying with fatally high body temperatures after taking the drug in a cool, temperate environment. Probably, these deaths were the result of serotonin syndrome, a rare possibly genetically-based condition induced by serotonin-releasing drugs.
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