Back to Dosage
It has been proven that, if a person were to injest a single dose of MDMA, their serotonin transporter density would decrease by a total of 0.1%. The decrease in density means that the serotonin axons would experience an extremely small decrease in their need to take serotonin back into the axon; meaning that there is probably less serotonin being produced (MCcann et al. 1998). Although many researchers now believe that a single dose of MDMA will not cause long term harm there is a group who argue that it will (MCcann and Ricaurte 2001; Gijsman et al. 1999).
The central issue for this argument lies in the indecision about what dosage should constitute a single dose. In many of the experiments involving animals it is difficult to observe the effects of the drug because animals cannot say how much MDMA is enough for them to feel the effects. The possibility for overdosage or miscalculation of the dose is high because of animals inability to communicate their mental states. This could confound animal studies using MDMA because people may be taking more appropriate doses because they can administer it themselves. But even when testing humans it is very difficult to define a dose because MDMA was placed on list of Schedule I drugs leaving it nearly untouchable. It cannot be used in any controlled environments where researchers can actually measure out a dose because it is highly illegal. Thus, much of the research done is second hand questions asked to ravers about their experiences or brainscans that supposedly test for MDMA effects when researchers have no idea what other drugs were in the MDMA tablets. The second hand nature makes it very difficult to pinpoint an exact amount of MDMA that would be neurotoxic to humans.
Some of the most controlled and most reliable research that exists on the neurotoxic nature of a single dose, in a controlled environment, can be found in the theraputic use studies that were conducted before the drug was made illegal. In one study (Downing 1986)a group of volunteers were tested in the labratory in order to see the effects of MDMA. They were allowed to choose their own dose of MDMA, ranging from .08 mg/kg to 1.9 mg/kg, they were then asked about the subjective effects which MDMA produced, and were studied using observational measurements until 3 months afterwards. No negative effects were observed with sparing, episodic use.
Other important factors to keep in mind when considering the effects of a single dose of MDMA are the reaction that 1) the user will have with the drug and 2) the effects that the environment will have with the user. In many cases the neurotoxic effects of MDMA are caused by the interaction of unique circumstances such as the amount of physical exertion, high/low room temperature, little water consumption (Fineschi 1996), and the users ability to cope with the effects of the drug. These, of course cannot be measured in each situation but there are protective measures which can be taken. In spite of the depth of the knowledge about these effects, there are still reported deaths from MDMA which lie outside of scientific understanding.
