A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist

Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by owenversteeg on Saturday January 25, 2025 @06:12AM (#42820955)

I think empathy is the only cure to racism. Funny coincidence: MDMA was originally known as "empathy" instead of "ecstasy".

It's also the only psychedelic I'm aware of where there is no such thing as a bad trip. For example, putting people in a hospital room alone and then in an MRI machine would certainly cause a bad trip for some people on LSD or mushrooms, but this guy had a great time on MDMA (and anyone else would as well.)

It is mildly neurotoxic, though it seems the neurotoxicity is only an issue when you take it too frequently (more than 3x/year) or too much (over 2.5 mg/kg.)

Another interesting somewhat-related story is that of Daryl Davis. No MDMA involved, but lots of empathy and understanding.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by netsharc on Saturday January 25, 2025 @07:18AM (#42821192)

Anyone know how to put it in the water supply?

Damn, there was a huge gathering of racists and otherwise unempathetic people 5 days ago...

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by kmmlng on Saturday January 25, 2025 @07:54AM (#42821360)

This is clearly a joke, but just for completeness: This would be terrible idea as dosing is very important with this drug. Too little doesn't make sense, too much is extremely dangerous.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by bloopbloopscoop on Saturday January 25, 2025 @07:27AM (#42821229)

I’ve had bad trips on MDMA and know several other people who’ve also had the same experience.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by cbsks on Saturday January 25, 2025 @10:01AM (#42822002)

Fascinating! Would you mind describing your experiences? I’ve done MDMA dozens of times and I’ve never come close to a “bad trip” unless I mixed it with another drug such as LSD.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by lq9AJ8yrfs on Saturday January 25, 2025 @10:29AM (#42822151)

If bad trip includes overdose or drug interactions, serotonin syndrome [1] is possible. The wiki even cites mdma as a cause.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by globular-toast on Saturday January 25, 2025 @02:38PM (#42824075)

Nah, that doesn't count. There are countless ways you can hurt yourself with things around the house if you use them wrong. Most people aren't educated about safe drug use (thanks to abstinence policy), yet the number of people having serious problems as a result of MDMA use is still lower than many other activities.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by owenversteeg on Monday January 27, 2025 @04:18AM (#42838990)

Exactly. There isn't a substance on earth that won't harm you when contaminated with impurities/taken at the wrong dose/taken with something else that interacts badly. Thankfully HN has trolls standing by with useless pedantry to keep us safe :)

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by cbsks on Saturday January 25, 2025 @03:51PM (#42824755)

Yes, there are serious drug interactions that can occur with MDMA. The one I’m most familiar with is not to take MDMA if you also take any MAOI, which is listed in that article.

Being hospitalized would certainly lead to a bad trip, in my opinion.

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Re:A dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist by djjsbdbdb on Saturday January 25, 2025 @04:12PM (#42824893)

This is dangerous misinformation. Using MDMA in the wrong circumstances can easily lead to a bad trip.

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