Post by RS Davis on Dec 28, 2003 21:51:57 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Ronald Bailey Wrote:[/glow] Damaged and dead monkeys? Call in the feds! In 2002, the prestigious journal Science stunned club-going kids everywhere with a study from Johns Hopkins University researcher George Ricaurte. Probably not coincidentally, the study also furthered the cause of such draconian laws as the Reducing Americans Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act, which notoriously allows the police to shut down clubs and bars and prosecute their owners if any patron is caught using the apparently deadly drug Ecstasy on their premises.
Ricaurte's study, you see, found that monkeys dosed with Ecstasy—the street name for the chemical methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)—suffered permanent brain damage, exhibiting symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. Even more alarming, two of his 10 monkeys actually died shortly after being dosed.
Even club kids who had long ago noted that 20 percent of their X-rolling compatriots weren't leaving blood on the dance floor must have had their buzz harshed by contemplating such dire results in a major peer-reviewed science journal. Well, party on. This September the magazine actually retracted the whole story. This Tuesday, The New York Times reported on the remarkable retraction and the whole sorry saga of hyped-up anti-drug research that is Ricaurte's career.
Ricaurte's study, you see, found that monkeys dosed with Ecstasy—the street name for the chemical methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)—suffered permanent brain damage, exhibiting symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. Even more alarming, two of his 10 monkeys actually died shortly after being dosed.
Even club kids who had long ago noted that 20 percent of their X-rolling compatriots weren't leaving blood on the dance floor must have had their buzz harshed by contemplating such dire results in a major peer-reviewed science journal. Well, party on. This September the magazine actually retracted the whole story. This Tuesday, The New York Times reported on the remarkable retraction and the whole sorry saga of hyped-up anti-drug research that is Ricaurte's career.
- Rick
