Caffeine, my personal drug of choice

LSD, scientific enigma

I have always been interested in drugs and toxins - what they do and how they act. It fascinates me to contemplate how organisms evolved such deadly accurate molecular bullets. Tetrodotoxin from pufferfish (fugu in sushi restaraunts) is incredibly potent and specific, almost as though an unknown hand carefully engineered it. Drugs of abuse are another of my interests, because of the profound effects they have on both humans and society.

My interest in drugs has carried into my science, of course. My masters thesis was on a mitochondrial benzodiazepine receptor, and I've spent five years working in the drug discovery industry. I am doing my graduate thesis modeling drug interactions with proteins.

Why am telling you this? Well, I have a soapbox to stand on, like everyone these days. I'm going to tell you that MDMA (ecstasy, X, XTC, methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is dangerous stuff, and ravers are unwittingly part of a giant, uncontrolled experiment. I hate spouting qualifications, but I really want you to seriously consider what I have to say. So, to go on, I spent a few months in 1990 while I was in graduate school working in one of the premier MDMA neurotoxicity labs, Dr. Mark Molliver's lab at Johns Hopkins. I have hands-on laboratory experience with MDMA and am utterly convinced of its toxicity because I have seen it with my own eyes.

So, if you're interested in how and why MDMA is toxic, please read my article. There is also a letter from a past MDMA user that helps to show why I am concerned. If you think you might have harmed yourself with drugs and you need help, I've put together some resources for you.