E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders
Appendix 1: Reference Section

7 Xochipilli: a context for Ecstasy, by Laura Fraser, from Whole Earth Review, 1992

The author criticises two journalists at a party who said that Ecstasy causes a loss of spinal fluid and causes Parkinson's disease.

The journalists were grossly misrepresenting two reports. One concerned a study of MDMA by Dr. George Ricaurte at Stanford University, who examined subjects spinal fluid to determine whether there were residual effects of MDMA. No such effects were found. The other was of drug injectors who contracted Parkinson's disease after injecting a synthetic opiate from a bad batch sold on the street that contained the neurotoxin MPTP. Ecstasy was not involved in any way.

The side effects of Ecstasy were mild: perhaps the worst was a tendency to call up ex-lovers and casual acquaintances and tell them how much you love them. It could also induce inappropriate and unintended "emotional-bond imprinting". Fraser advises taking some calcium and magnesium before MDMA to prevent jaw clench and says MDMA should be avoided by those with heart ailments; glaucoma; hypertension; aneurism or a history of strokes, hepatic or renal disorders, diabetes or hypoglycemia.