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Tuesday, April 4, 2006

What Happens If You Take 25 Hits of Ecstasy Every Day for Four Years?

Posted by on April 4 at 8:42 AM

Doctors from London University finally have an answer, thanks to “Mr. A”, the 37-year-old British man estimated to have taken 40,000 hits of ecstasy over nine years. Mr. A’s intake is believed to be the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person, with the previous known record a now-paltry 2,000 hits.

Details come from a case study, written by consultants from the addiction centre at St George’s Medical School, published in the scientific journal Psychosomatics, and reported by The Guardian:

The man started using ecstasy at 21. For the first two years his use was an average of five pills per weekend. Gradually this escalated until he was taking around three and a half pills a day. At the peak, the man was taking an estimated 25 pills every day for four years. After several severe collapses at parties, Mr A decided to stop taking ecstasy.

Since quitting E, Mr. A has lived a life riddled with “severe physical and mental health side-effects, including extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression. He also suffers from painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw which often prevents him from opening his mouth. The doctors believe many of these symptoms may be permanent.”

Full story here. (And good fucking luck to whatever fool takes it upon him- of herself to top Mr. A’s world-historic intake.)


CommentsRSS icon

Vicodin isn't as effective at it used to be.

hmm, this demands further study.

My first question is, how does someone afford this much E? He was either a trust fund baby or selling it. I was always under the impression that it isn't cheap.

I don't have any firsthand knowledge, but I've heard that E is much cheaper the closer you are to the Netherlands, where most of it is produced.

This story I think is kind of deceptive... they go on about all his problems, but at the end they mention he's smoking pot every day too. Doesn't that have some effect on your memory?

It's just too bad there isn't any real research into this stuff.

Breaking news: Ingesting large quantities of drug over a long period of time tends to produce permanent side effects.

No doubt this will fuel some propaganda, but would this sort of thing even be news if the guy drank 25 cups of coffee every day for 9 years?

Hell, I've been drinking that much coffee for close to 30 years. My mouth opens just fine, though my kidneys are the size, shape and consistency of Australian Rules footballs.

A rather different result from the damage to the Ph.D. chemist(?) who ate spoonfuls of DDT every day for years. Health consequences from ingesting DDT? None. Health consequences from banning it? Millions dead from resurgent malaria. Thanks, Greens.

Yeah, and now we've got all those pesky Bald Eagles around. DDT kept those down really well.

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