MDMA DRAMATICALLY raises brain dopamine levels, at least in rodents. In fact, animal studies suggest that striatal levels of dopamine go way up because the serotonin that MDMA releases stimulates 5-HT2A receptors located on inhibitory GABA striatonigral neurons. Stimulation of these 5-HT2A receptors inhibits these GABA neurons, allowing disinhibition of dopamine biosynthesis, so that you get extracellular dopamine levels that markedly exceed those you'd expect if the only thing that was happening was MDMA-mediated dopamine release through the uptake carrier. I don't think this news report says anything about "serotonin cures" at all, and is very explainable with what we know about the action of MDMA. Indeed, my own personal opinion is that the effects of MDMA are related to its dopamine release, the effects of which are only modulated by serotonin release. Dopamine releasing agents like methamphetamine have some ecstasy-like effects whereas serotonin releasing agents such as fenfluramine have almost no effects, but certainly produce nothing ecstasy-like. These "doctors" who are talking about MDMA having no effect on dopamine are just blowing smoke because they aren't familiar with the literature.

In early Parkinson's disease therefore, where there is a brain dopamine deficiency but still a fair number of dopamine terminals remaining, it is not surprising at all that a drug that causes massive release of brain dopamine in the striatum (one of the areas where you see it in rats and the area that is dopamine deficient in Parkinson's disease) should produce symptomatic relief. Go into a late stage Parkinson patient, where the dopamine terminals are nearly all gone, and I'll bet serious money that MDMA will have absolutely no effect. Serotonin release just won't help.

Parkinson's disease is one of my research specialities, and I and my colleagues developed the first new type of drug treatment for late stage Parkinson's disease.