Ecstasy : The Complete Guide : A Comprehensive Look at the Risks and Benefits of MDMA

 One should start by putting things in perspective. The following background is necessary not only for all studies of psychoactive drugs, but for all studies of human behavior.  There were about 400,000 USA deaths due to tobacco, 100,000 each to alcohol and prescription drugs and about 7600 to aspirin and other OTC painkillers. Worldwide we can expect that the figures will be about 10 million for tobacco, 2.5 million each for others and about 200,000 for aspirin and OTC painkillers. There may be 1 million people in the world with fetal alcohol syndrome(severe brain damage due to maternal drinking) and it is the leading cause of mental retardation in most countries.  There are also at least 15 million people who have fetal alcohol effect(lesser degrees of brain damage) with about 200,000 born every year. I suspect this is a gross underestimate.  None of the psychedelics nor cannabis are known to produce fetal injury when taken in normal amounts.  All things considered, if you calculated the lifetime risks of death or injury from taking ecstasy, it is probably comparable to that of driving ten km and significantly less than that of putting on a pair of skis. In addition, the young people who comprise the vast majority of the users are heavy risk takers, a very percentage of whom have personality disorders.  There are about 60 million schizophrenics and the same number of manic depressives in the world.  When you add the depressives, schizotypal disorders, anorexics, alcoholics etc it is clear that perhaps a billion people have major mental problems, nearly half of all those are in the prime drug taking ages. In addition nearly all of us have periodic mood swings, medical problems and personal crises.   Based on various data in this book and elsewhere,  it appears that about 20 million people will take something like 200 million pills of ecstasy each  year.  In 1998 there were about 9 deaths POSSIBLY connected with ecstasy in the USA. These seem to actually be due to drinking too much or too little water and likely to taking large amounts of other drugs or alcohol.    Ecstasy deaths(like those for marijuana and other psychedelics) are extremely rare and seldom if ever due to the direct toxicity--the psychedelics having some the widest margins between the effective and the toxic doses of any drugs in medicine.   The fact is there was enough data to prove the psychedelics were safe and therapeutically effective 25 years ago.  If they were available OTC or perhaps even on prescription with the same general indications as say, antibiotics, the black market and adulterated drugs would quickly fade away.  It is not clear that anyone has ever had serious permanent mental problems due to taking ecstasy(though they often have serious permanent benefits) and its potential as a therapeutic agent are enormous. It has a long and remarkable history as a highly effective and safe t

I agree with the other user who put a 5 star rating to counter the blatant "I'm giving this 1 star (twice) because it doesn't absolutely condemn everyone who even thinks about using drugs" review. If, as other readers' comments imply, this includes some positive stuff about E then so be it. It's to be expected - I have used it a few times (not before some serious and surprising research into getting all the benefits at the lowest cost) and will use it again. I'd therefore encourage anyone interested in the topic to read up on it online or through books like these that are written by real experts rather than Government sources whose only interests are in scaremongering and getting people to use more destructive but legal drugs like booze and cigs in order to rake in as much tax as possible. No I have not read this particular book but in reading other reviews you can tell who is talking crap and who has approached the topic with an open mind. 1 star protests really *!?! me off.

This book is excellent.It is very well written and can be easily read by lay persons as well as being a great source of information for health professionals (researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists,and all MDs.)All of the important people in the field of MDMA research and history (Sasha and Ann Shulgin, Rick Doblin, among others) are either interviewed or have written chapters in the book.The book is very informative and gives the extreme potential of this unique chemical. It is written by one of the most respected experts on MDMA. This book is as objective as can be. Possible risks of MDMA use as well as the possible benefits are discussed in detail.It is a must read for anyone interested in the topic of MDMA/ecstasy. All royalties from the sale of this book will go toward funding clinical MDMA research.

This book is by far the best info/guide on MDMA. Julie Holland does an amazing job with going in-depth analysis over MDMA. I have heard others bashing her and saying that this book promotes MDMA use.. it does not. It simply states what it is all about and it actually lists everything that you could ever want to know about this popular drug. I sincerely hope that every MDMA user will read this book before getting into this.Thanks Julie!

Psychiatrist and researcher Julie Holland M.D. has done a great job assembling this collection of essays on MDMA. With contributions from Andrew Weil, Ralph Metzner, Zalman Schacter, Rick Doblin, Douglas Rushkoff and many others, the book very honestly analyzes Ecstasy from many viewpoints: medical, psychotherapeutic, public health, criminal, social, and historical.Holland and her contributors have created the best book on Ecstasy in print...it is destined to be considered a classic.