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What sickness do i have to get that can be cured by MDMA...?

Parkinson's apparently.

Read up on Leah Betts, a girl who died in the UK in 1995 after drinking too much water while on ecstacy.

Australia's been banning books for years. Some friends got some nastygrams from Customs or similar when they tried to get some drug related book shipped in to the country. The timing fits in with this:

http://www.ecstasy.org/books/australia.html

I think the book in question in the case of my friends was TiHKAL, as noted here:

http://www.answers.com/topic/censorship-in-austral ia

It was pretty random as to whether your copy would slip through customs.

Most ravers probably aren't fans of XTC, not even in lace. Perhaps you meant the drug ecstasy, instead.

As can certain psychadelic drugs. Just ask Leah Betts.

(Of course, it's important to note that this girl died of a *water* overdose, not an ecstasy dose. Indirectly, it's a lack of good information about the drug that killed her. Not that dropping X is good for you or anything, but the more misinformation we spread about drugs, the more dangerous they are.)

I like that you're trying to dispel bad drug myths, and it's all pretty good until you reach your second point.

These are often heroin, laced with horse tranquilizers or rat poison

That's just another myth. Even in places where heroin is relatively cheap, it's still economically stupid to sell it as ecstasy. You also have to take into account that heroin isn't very active when it's taken orally. So even if somebody were stupid enough to lace their ecstasy with heroin, you wouldn't even feel the effects of it. Even if the pill was all heroin, and no mdma, it wouldn't make you addicted either.

As for rat posion, killing your customers is no way to run a business. That said, there is one known case of ecstasy that did indeed contain rat poision and which probably is the source for this myth. It was discovered in The Netherlands, where anybody can send in their pills for testing for free. It was later believed that these pills were submitted by anti drug activists as nobody ever got ill from eating pills "in the wild" from the same batch.

Your first point is valid though. Dehydration can kill you. You've got to watch out though, as drinking too much water will also kill you. The first widely publicized death due to ecstasy in the UK was that of teenager Leah Betts. Her story is believed to be source for the "one pill can kill" myth.

She had been warned about the dehydration dangers, and drank so much water that it led to water intoxication. Initially everyone believed that it was the "killer drug" which did her in though. Promptly two of UK's largest advertising agencies, out of the goodness in their hearts, launched a "free" advertising campaign.

"Sorted. Just one Ecstasy tablet killed Leah Betts"

That each of the agencies largest customers were breweries had nothing to with their sudden concern for the nations youths.

What does that say about our geek-ness, or lack of it, when we see "H" and think heroin instead of hydrogen?

It means we know the difference between H, H+, and H2. Hydrogen, like oxygen, nitrogen, and the halogens, is diatomic, meaning that it exists in nature in pairs (Cl2 I2 F2 Br2 O2 H2 N2). In nature, it also exists as positive ions (labeled H+); Bronsted acids give off these. (Water is amphiprotic; that is, it's a weak acid and base simultaneously.)

When I see "H2", I think "hydrogen." When I see "H+", I think "hydrogen ion" and then "there's an acid somewhere around here". Plain "H" by itself is heroin, just like "X" without the "Window System".

Actually it probably wouldn't. Over a million people take ecstacy each weekend in the UK, and the number of deaths related to the drug is approximately 50 in total. These deaths are mostly due to overheating. A few were due to excessive consumptioon of water which is exacerbated by inhibited kidney function, so water doesn't leave the body making it difficult to maintain homeostasis. A few were caused by an allergic reaction to the drug, but as a proportion of users ecstacy is "safer" in this regard than most over the counter pharmceuticals. Death due to heart failure is very rarely if ever recorded.

There is plenty of information about the risks associated with MDMA usage on the web, as well as steps that can be taken to reduce the physical risk. A far greater worry is the psychological damage caused by repeated usage. Minds are fragile things and the effect of these drugs on them is mostly unknown. Have a look at Alexander Shulgin's book on the subject, or kick off at google.

Everyone should check out the resources available at places such as:
Erowid
The Lycaeum
Ecstasy.org
Dancesafe

To those that think drugs are evil, remember Prozac, Ritalin, the heart medicine you take, the pills your grandmother takes every day, and then think about just how much you actually know about the things you put in your body daily.

Do your research -- Enjoy drugs w/peace of mind.

-Kabloona
"We can't stop here, this is bat country!"