In this interview on Australian community radio, Shant Fabricatorian speaks with Professor John Halpern from Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, the lead researcher on a new study that threatens to overturn established thinking on the popular party drug Ecstasy. According to most studies on the subject, Ecstasy has traditionally been viewed as a relatively dangerous drug, with the symptoms linked to it including brain damage and memory loss. Dr. Halpern's research, a $1.8 million study funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse and using pilot data provided by MAPS, argues that ecstasy use does not result in cognitive damage, and that previous conclusions suggesting otherwise were overstated, or reached through flawed methods.
