Annals of Internal Medicine
December 19, 2000
Steven J. Lester, Matthew J. Baggott, Susette Welm et al.
140 citations
A modest oral dose of MDMA (1.5 mg/kg) increases heart rate by 28 beats per minute, systolic blood pressure by 25 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure by 7 mm Hg, and cardiac output by 2 L per minute in healthy adults who have used the drug before. These cardiovascular effects are similar to those of the heart stimulant dobutamine at doses of 20 to 40 micrograms per kilogram per minute. Unlike dobutamine, MDMA shows no measurable effect on the heart's pumping strength (inotropism). The findings suggest that even moderate MDMA use raises myocardial oxygen demand without enhancing the heart's contractile force.
Drug and alcohol dependence
October 1, 2010
Matthew J Baggott, Earth Erowid, Fire Erowid et al.
78 citations
A survey of 500 individuals who had used Salvia divinorum found that 92.6% typically smoked or vaporized the plant, with acute effects lasting about 14 minutes on average. Most participants (80.6%) said they would use it again, and 38.4% described the experience as unique. On at least one occasion, 25.8% reported persisting positive effects lasting 24 hours or more, often an increased sense of well-being, while 4.4% reported persisting negative effects, most commonly anxiety. These findings suggest that Salvia divinorum may produce subacute improvements in mood, which is unusual for a non-medically used drug.
PLoS ONE
December 2, 2010
Gantt P. Galloway, Jennifer D. Siegrist, Lynn C. Robertson et al.
22 citations
A double-blind placebo-controlled study found that the hallucinogen MDA increases closed-eye visions and mystical-type experiences. People who had more intense visions tended to perform worse on tests of contour integration and object recognition, suggesting that drug-induced hallucinations may be stronger in individuals with poorer perceptual processing. This points to possible shared mechanisms with hallucinations in psychiatric and neurological conditions.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
June 23, 2015
Matthew J. Baggott, Jeremy Coyle, Jennifer D. Siegrist et al.
21 citations
preprint
MDMA produces a prosocial syndrome that facilitates emotional disclosure by increasing feelings of authenticity and decreasing concerns about negative evaluation by others. In a within-subjects double-blind placebo controlled study of 1.5 mg/kg oral MDMA, the drug showed both sedative- and stimulant-like effects, including increased self-report anxiety, but positively altered self-evaluation and reduced social anxiety. MDMA also increased how comfortable participants felt describing emotional memories, consistent with the suggestion that it represents a novel pharmacological class.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 15, 2019
Matthew J. Baggott, Kathleen J. Garrison, Jeremy Coyle et al.
20 citations
The drug MDA, an entactogen similar to MDMA (ecstasy), produces longer-lasting emotional and physiological effects than MDMA. In a controlled experiment with healthy volunteers, a single oral dose of 1.4 mg/kg MDA increased heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones (cortisol and prolactin) to levels comparable to those from a 1.5 mg/kg dose of MDMA. However, participants' self-reported drug effects from MDA remained elevated for at least 8 hours, whereas MDMA effects subsided by 6 hours. Blood measurements showed that MDA and its metabolite HMA reached peak concentrations of about 229 µg/L and 92 µg/L, respectively. Because the two drugs had similar blood-level profiles, the longer duration of MDA's effects likely stems from differences in how it acts on the brain rather than from slower elimination.