Not since LSD in the 1960s has the world witnessed a drug phenomenon like the rapid and widespread emergence of Ecstasy. In the past five years, Ecstasy use has doubled among teens; 11% of American high school seniors now report they have tried the drug. This summer in New York City, officials seized over a million tablets in the largest Ecstasy drug bust. In Illinois, possession of fifteen tablets now carries a mandatory minimum sentence of four years in prison.
Enthusiasts describe Ecstasy (also known by its chemical name MDMA) as the most intense euphoria they know, while detractors maintain that it is a cause of brain damage and even death. With its growing use, Ecstasy has created an unprecedented level of controversy-and misinformation. Ecstasy may be easy to get, but reliable information about the drug is not.
Ecstasy: The Complete Guide. A Comprehensive Look at the Risks and Benefits of MDMA is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking credible information. Bellevue psychiatrist Dr. Julie Holland has compiled the opinions of twenty-two of the world’s leading experts in the first book to explore each aspect of this worldwide phenomenon from every angle.
Dr. Holland, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, believes reliable information on Ecstasy is key both to reducing the harm and to establishing the benefits associated with this powerful drug.
“People are using Ecstasy in an unsafe manner and need to be educated about its risks,” Dr. Holland says. “But being a popular illicit drug does not negate its potential medical benefits. Twenty years ago, before Ecstasy was an illegal street drug, it was a medicine used by psychiatrists to create breakthroughs in therapy. MDMA provides an opportunity for a faster, easier, more powerful therapeutic session, similar to anesthesia which allows painful surgery to proceed. My goal is to bring Ecstasy back into the fold of psychiatry, to promote research of the therapeutic potential of the medicine MDMA.”
Authored by physicians, chemists, and research scientists, Ecstasy: The Complete Guide provides important insight into the dangers of the current widespread recreational use of Ecstasy; it also offers compelling evidence that the judicious, supervised single-dose use of MDMA may be therapeutic. It is an important book for the millions of worldwide ravers and their concerned parents, as well as for the clinicians and researchers seeking the most up-to-date information available about MDMA. All proceeds from book sales will go toward funding clinical MDMA research.
Ecstasy: The Complete Guide explores:
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