Canadian Doctor Labels Ecstasy As 'Safe'

A top British Columbia health official has stated that taking pure ecstasy can be "safe" when consumed responsibly by adults, but he says he is not advocating legalized recreational use of the drug. 

Dr. Perry Kendall says while the pure form of the drug has been proven safe in controlled clinical trials by psychiatrists, the type of ecstasy sold on the street is laced with potentially dangerous impurities.

"Unless you are getting it from a psychiatrist in a legitimate clinical trial, at the present time you can't guarantee what's in it, how much of it there is, or its safety, so I would say as we have said in the past — don't take it," Kendall told CBC News.

Kendall asserts the risks of MDMA — the pure substance originally synonymous with ecstasy — are overblown, and that its lethal dangers only arise when the man-made chemical is polluted by money-hungry gangs who cook it up.

When asked whether ecstasy, after further study around correct dosage and in a setting involving strict controls, could be safe, he responded, "Absolutely."

Kendall said if MDMA were ever legalized, the drug should be strictly regulated and sold through licensed, government-run stores.

Just like the growing chorus for marijuana legalization, Kendall believes crushing the dirty ecstasy-saturated black market and its associated violence requires an evidence-based strategy that revolves around public health.

"(If) you knew what a safe dosage was, you might be able to buy ecstasy like you could buy alcohol from a government-regulated store," Kendall said in an interview.

"We accept the fact that alcohol, which is inherently dangerous, is a product over a certain age that anybody can access.

"So I don't think the issue is a technical one of how we would manage that. The issue is a political, perceptual one."

He suggests that usage rates would decrease, but he does not advocate promoting the drug for recreational use.

Kendall recently had to reiterate the statement that he is not advocating the use of ecstasy and he has no opinion on the legalization issue, following a slew of news stories reporting otherwise.

Story courtesy of The Canadian Press. Head to the original article for more.

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