…and Listening to Phish Causes Pop-Tart Consumption

The headline on this article declares "Ecstasy affects memory, new international study shows." Now, it doesn't seem implausible that this is true, I guess, but how on earth can you tell on the basis of this kind of questionaire? Without controlling for a whole bunch of other factors, there's some obvious selection bias going on here: the population that chooses to pop rolls and take bonghits regularly is probably rather different from the population at large from the outset, in any number of ways. To actually spot causations, I'd think you'd need a longitudinal study measuring people before and after starting E use. And then figure out whether memory loss was a function of the drug, or of the fact that the user was probably out dancing 'till 8 am the night before.

Comments

[Tom from Texas]

Typical Reason. We have naked cheerleaders falling from the sky in Hawaii, and the best we can do here is another piece on how stupid the latest anti-drug rhetoric is?

[Ben]

Tom--When the Drug War ends, billions of dollars are saved, and the encroachments on our civil liberties are rolled back we can stop talking about this anti-drug propaganda and talk about the drunk vacationers you are so interested in.

[dhex]

naked cheerleaders? the sky?

[Shultz]

...and listening to Barry White causes an increase in unwanted pregnancies.

[ed]

What dhex said.
Naked...cheerleaders?

[JSM]

"Users may think that ecstasy is fun and that it feels fairly harmless at the time. However, our results show slight but measurable impairments to memory as a result of use, which is worrying."

Thanks for your concern and providing consumers with more information, however, there is still no reason to imprison people for using X.

[Tom from Texas]

Jeez, people. Read the news.

And Ben, you sound like the last person on earth anyone would ever want to get high with.

[J. Alexander Lowman]

This is just another study with no scientific value whatsoever, as Julian points out. If you want to read some "real" studies about MDMA, go to http://www.maps.org.

[Warren]

Tom,
We continue to beat the anti war on drugs drum, because it continues to be the greatest threat to our liberty. Runaway deficit spending and US military adventurism are potentially more worrisome, but there is hope that they will subside when the current administration is removed from power. The drug warriors however, are generations entrenched and have fully annexed both major parties. Therefore, 'too much complaining about stupid drug laws' is an oxymoron.

[bennett]

Tom, I read the news. And if I am not mistaken the word was that the drunk, naked cheerleader was under the influence of alcohol. Perhaps we should outlaw Bud and Jack Daniels also?

In fact, here is the url for the write-up: (sorry, I do not know how to make it a link)http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/01/14/national0900EST0521.DTL.

[Donny]

I've taken ecstasy many times and it taken many times and ecstasy many I've taken ecstasy many times and it doesn't cause many times and it taken many times and it doesn't taken many times and it many times and it doesn't cause memory loss.

[Douglas Fletcher]

You've been sleeping with Marie again, haven't you.

[Andrew Lynch]

Jeez, people. Read the news.

Why?