Ecstasy Essay, Research Paper

Ecstasy

Sometimes when I m watching the news or flipping through newspapers I stop and realize how many sick and deranged people there are in this world. If you open a newspaper or turn on the news any day of the week there is always some situation going on that just makes you sick or makes you wonder how could a person do this sort of thing to another person. There are many crazy people in this world who do things for no other reason other than because they feel like it or the fact that there is something mentally wrong with them. At least this is what we think, but is there other reasons? Other answers? Could there be something we don t know something inside these people that disturbs them so much to the point where they act out in horrible ways? Well by using Ecstasy which is known to open the mind and break down mental barriers(Kusinitz 43). Then maybe we can find out what s really wrong with the mentally ill and the people who commit horrid crimes. Therefore it should be legalized for those purposes but for those purposes only. It should still remain illegal to the general public because it does have numerous short term and long term side effects.

If Ecstasy were legalized we could use it to find out what is really wrong with these people. Obviously there are some people who grow up in a bad home situation and they aren t taught right from wrong but what about the ones who come from good homes? Or the people who seem like descent people who almost seem to just go bad? Well there must be something disturbing them and through the use of Ecstasy, we would be able to find out what it is. According to Marc Kusinitz the author of Drug abuse around the world that Ecstasy stops emotional and psychological barriers, relaxes inhibitions, and enhances communication (43). These three things could help us a lot in the research about how deep the human brain and mind actually is. This could also help the people who are suffering from things that their minds aren t capable of handling on their own. For example one of my friends has insomnia and she went to the doctor whom sent her to a psychiatrist. The purpose for this was to find out what was stopping her from sleeping and she didn t know what it could be. The psychiatrist asked her many questions to try to find even the slightest possibilities of what was preventing her from sleeping. Now I believe that if she took ecstasy it would stop her psychological barriers, which would enable her psychiatrist to figure out what is wrong with her, and why she isn t sleeping and they would be able to resolve the situation what ever it is and she d be able to sleep. Now this is just one of the many psychological problems that would be resolved if these offices could use Ecstasy.

Ecstasy enhances communication which could be a good thing for quieter children they would be able to find out the things that make them silent and not want to be loud and expressing of themselves. For the fact that it relaxes inhibitions this will help us find out what is the purpose in mind when killers kill and when child molesters molest. This will allow us to find out what is truly wrong with the psychos and the sick people in the world and we ll find out why they do what the do.

In the research I have done I have concluded that the main reason of death from Ecstasy is because while under this drug you get a high energy level and when in a club scene you are just dancing non-stop. According to Shulgin after you take Ecstasy the body starts to dehydrate and you don t know because the drugs influence doesn t let you therefore causing an increase in body temperature, which is followed by brain damage and sometimes death (27). According to the article Ecstasy s Effects . Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 8/14/00, Vol. 12 Issue 32, Pages 1-3, the other cases of death were people with asthma and other physical conditions that mixed with Ecstasy which was mixed with other drugs like crack, heroin, PCP, etc. If it was only used for medical purposes only the situation would be controlled where the person would be forced to drink water constantly and would be evaluated before to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with them. Said by Shulgin the effects of Ecstasy are supposed to be five times worse in a crowded club scene (6) and this wouldn t be that it would be in a very controlled environment where there would be safety precautions taken and constant monitoring. Also the psychiatrists will make sure the patients are in the right state of mind so they are guaranteed a good trip that will be useful to doctors.

According to a DEA report broadcasted on CBS other reasons for bad trips are the fact that the Ecstasy isn t pure Ecstasy it is often mixed with crack, heroin, and many other different types of drugs. The drugs that would be used in the doctors and psychiatrists offices would be certified and tested to be pure Ecstasy. They can do this in places called Dance Safe Programs. According to William Wilson a Duke University pharmacology professor (qtd. in a CBS report) the pills that are mixed with different drugs are more potent then the pure MDMA. In some cases people have jumped out of windows thinking they could fly this obviously wouldn t be able to happen in a controlled environment (Kronenwetter 15).

Now I also believe that this drug should stay illegal for the general public. I believe this because in these situations adults and children are buying this off the street and they don t know what they are getting. They could be getting crack in it. They are also not in controlled environments therefore anything could happen. If they started to have a bad trip there friends would most likely be on the drug too and not know what s going on or how to control the raging person. Also a lot of people are taking Ecstasy at the all night raves, which increase the effects by five. Most Americans are unaware of the dehydration factor therefore don t realized they are getting over heated and are at great risk of having a fatal trip (Kusinitz 61). Your personal trip depends a lot on the state of mind you are in at the time and if you re nervous or upset you will most likely have a bad trip and a lot of people think that these will help them get happy but they will work in the reverse affect just as much (Stevens 2). There would be no one there to supervise and make sure everything is going the way it should be. According to Shulgin, anyone could buy it including people with weak hearts or kidney problems those people are doomed because of the effect Ecstasy has on the their hearts and kidney s they can t take it (13). Also Ecstasy is one of the very few drugs that genuinely do cause brain damage (Ecstasy 13547. 3/20/01 ).

Also Ecstasy can make depressed people more depressed. It is told by William Wilson a pharmacology professor that the uprising of Ecstasy may one day cause a whole generation of depressed people (qtd. in a CBS report). Now for some of the many side affects that are caused by the use and continued use of Ecstasy. Some short-term side effects include psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia (Ecstasy 13547. 3/20/01 ). Also some physical symptoms that can effect the a person during and sometimes weeks after taking Ecstasy like muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating(Ecstasy 13547. 3/20/01

). It also has some long term effects like damage to the parts of the brain critical to thought and memory (Ecstasy 13547. 3/20/01 ). It is said by Kronwetter Ecstasy can cause dehydration, anxiety, and exhaustion (65).

Also if we used this for just medical and psychological reasons there would be constant monitoring of the body s temperature. Also there would be tests to make sure that the hearts and kidney s of the patients weren t weak, because as told by Shulgin ecstasy can make the users more vulnerable to preexisting conditions such as a weak heart and kidney s (14). The state of mind of the patients will be monitored also because of the reason that the type of trip they will have is highly depended upon their state of mind, so that is another thing that will be constantly monitored so that nothing will go wrong. Everything that is able to be monitored will be monitored even the person during and weeks after the trip they will be monitored.