More E, vicar? Reverend to take ecstasy on TV for controversial drugs documentary.
9:21 am - 07/19/2012
Channel 4 are believed to have already filmed the drug taking, with Lionel Shriver and Keith Allen also taking part.
A female vicar is set to spark outrage by taking ecstasy on a controversial new Channel 4 programme about drugs.
The working minister will be joined in the experiment by award-winning author Lionel Shriver who penned bestseller We Need To Talk About Kevin.
Others who will take 83mg of MDMA, the pure form of ecstasy, include a former MP, an ex-SAS soldier and actor Keith Allen.
The volunteers will also be given a placebo – fake drugs – as well as the real thing so they don’t actually know when they have taken ecstasy.
A show source said: “We’ve got a real mix of people taking drugs from all walks of life, it’s going to be like a drugs version of Big Brother and will be must-see TV.
“Where else would you see a vicar, Keith Allen and an SAS soldier all taking drugs together?”
Channel 4 are believed to have already filmed the scenes of drug taking at London’s Imperial College under scientific conditions to fulfil Home Office rules.
The show - called Drugs Live: The Ecstasy Trial - will then feature a “live” studio debate.
The two part show, which will be presented by Jon Snow and Christian Jessen, will also feature a live debate on the experiments.
Participants had to be screened by medics and psychiatrists before giving their fully-informed consent to take part.
But the show has already prompted anger, with Julia Manning, chief executive of independent think-tank 2020 Health, condemning the idea.
She said: “The first two words that come to mind are reckless and pointless. We are fully aware of the effects of Class A drugs on the body.
“This will achieve nothing. If anything it will “celebritise” the taking of illegal substances.
"This is purely anecdotal. It’s not part of any proper study. It’s publicity-seeking TV at its worst.”
Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive of the drugs charity, Addaction, said the programme risked being voyeuristic, and “ultimately unrepresentative of some of the wider realities of drug taking”.
“There are a lot of associated risks with taking street MDMA. Not least the fact that you can never be sure what it is you’ve bought.
“As an example, we are currently hearing reports of ‘Pink Ecstasy’, which contains a highly toxic drug that is closer in make up to ‘Crystal Meth’ than it is to ecstasy.
“So, we wouldn’t want anyone to come away from the programme thinking that MDMA is benign,”
Actor Keith Allen said it was “insane” to suggest the show glamorised drug use.
He said: “If you think that I’m glamorising the taking of drugs by spending an hour and 20 minutes for two consecutive Mondays in an MRI scanning machine, then you’re insane.
“There were policemen taking part. There were definitely soldiers, people who’d never taken it before.
"It’s a very, very forensic analysis, a neurological analysis of the effects of MDMA.”
Channel 4 Senior Commissioning Editor, David Glover, said: “The use of controlled drugs, including ecstasy, is a hugely important issue and Britain has been called the ‘drug-taking capital of Europe’.
"But too often the facts – and particularly the science – can become lost in the heat of the argument.
“These programmes will feature a scientific study that aims to demonstrate the effects of using ecstasy on the brain and behaviour alongside a grown-up debate about the issues raised featuring a wide range of views.
"This is a programme that only Channel 4 would be brave enough to commission.”
After taking the drugs, the volunteers will undergo brain scans and series of cognitive tests to examine MDMA’s effects on empathy, trust and memory.
The scientific study has been designed by two of the world’s leading experts on MDMA, psychopharmacologists Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London and Professor Val Curran of University College London.
Controversial drugs expert Professor Nutt was sacked in 2009 as chairman of the independent Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs after claiming alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.
He has also suggested horse-riding is more dangerous than taking ecstasy and said alcohol consumption in Britain would fall by a quarter if Dutch-style cannabis ‘coffee shops’ were introduced.
Defending the experiment Professor Nutt said: “Nearly half a million people are believed to take ecstasy or MDMA every year in the UK, but there has been very little research into what it does in the brain.
“This is the first study that will involve brain scans of people taking MDMA while not performing any tasks.
"Imaging technology has improved enormously recently, so these experiments will give us a much clearer picture of the fundamental effects of MDMA on the resting brain than anyone has been able to get before.”
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ec
OP: This has to be a frontrunner for headline of the year. A vicar taking drugs, Keith Allen and the greatest newsreader in Britain Jon Snow. What's not to like?
A female vicar is set to spark outrage by taking ecstasy on a controversial new Channel 4 programme about drugs.
The working minister will be joined in the experiment by award-winning author Lionel Shriver who penned bestseller We Need To Talk About Kevin.
Others who will take 83mg of MDMA, the pure form of ecstasy, include a former MP, an ex-SAS soldier and actor Keith Allen.
The volunteers will also be given a placebo – fake drugs – as well as the real thing so they don’t actually know when they have taken ecstasy.
A show source said: “We’ve got a real mix of people taking drugs from all walks of life, it’s going to be like a drugs version of Big Brother and will be must-see TV.
“Where else would you see a vicar, Keith Allen and an SAS soldier all taking drugs together?”
Channel 4 are believed to have already filmed the scenes of drug taking at London’s Imperial College under scientific conditions to fulfil Home Office rules.
The show - called Drugs Live: The Ecstasy Trial - will then feature a “live” studio debate.
The two part show, which will be presented by Jon Snow and Christian Jessen, will also feature a live debate on the experiments.
Participants had to be screened by medics and psychiatrists before giving their fully-informed consent to take part.
But the show has already prompted anger, with Julia Manning, chief executive of independent think-tank 2020 Health, condemning the idea.
She said: “The first two words that come to mind are reckless and pointless. We are fully aware of the effects of Class A drugs on the body.
“This will achieve nothing. If anything it will “celebritise” the taking of illegal substances.
"This is purely anecdotal. It’s not part of any proper study. It’s publicity-seeking TV at its worst.”
Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive of the drugs charity, Addaction, said the programme risked being voyeuristic, and “ultimately unrepresentative of some of the wider realities of drug taking”.
“There are a lot of associated risks with taking street MDMA. Not least the fact that you can never be sure what it is you’ve bought.
“As an example, we are currently hearing reports of ‘Pink Ecstasy’, which contains a highly toxic drug that is closer in make up to ‘Crystal Meth’ than it is to ecstasy.
“So, we wouldn’t want anyone to come away from the programme thinking that MDMA is benign,”
Actor Keith Allen said it was “insane” to suggest the show glamorised drug use.
He said: “If you think that I’m glamorising the taking of drugs by spending an hour and 20 minutes for two consecutive Mondays in an MRI scanning machine, then you’re insane.
“There were policemen taking part. There were definitely soldiers, people who’d never taken it before.
"It’s a very, very forensic analysis, a neurological analysis of the effects of MDMA.”
Channel 4 Senior Commissioning Editor, David Glover, said: “The use of controlled drugs, including ecstasy, is a hugely important issue and Britain has been called the ‘drug-taking capital of Europe’.
"But too often the facts – and particularly the science – can become lost in the heat of the argument.
“These programmes will feature a scientific study that aims to demonstrate the effects of using ecstasy on the brain and behaviour alongside a grown-up debate about the issues raised featuring a wide range of views.
"This is a programme that only Channel 4 would be brave enough to commission.”
After taking the drugs, the volunteers will undergo brain scans and series of cognitive tests to examine MDMA’s effects on empathy, trust and memory.
The scientific study has been designed by two of the world’s leading experts on MDMA, psychopharmacologists Professor David Nutt of Imperial College London and Professor Val Curran of University College London.
Controversial drugs expert Professor Nutt was sacked in 2009 as chairman of the independent Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs after claiming alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.
He has also suggested horse-riding is more dangerous than taking ecstasy and said alcohol consumption in Britain would fall by a quarter if Dutch-style cannabis ‘coffee shops’ were introduced.
Defending the experiment Professor Nutt said: “Nearly half a million people are believed to take ecstasy or MDMA every year in the UK, but there has been very little research into what it does in the brain.
“This is the first study that will involve brain scans of people taking MDMA while not performing any tasks.
"Imaging technology has improved enormously recently, so these experiments will give us a much clearer picture of the fundamental effects of MDMA on the resting brain than anyone has been able to get before.”
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ec
OP: This has to be a frontrunner for headline of the year. A vicar taking drugs, Keith Allen and the greatest newsreader in Britain Jon Snow. What's not to like?
I have a couple friends who do MDMA. They've offered to let me join in a very non-peer pressure-y way, but I stick to pot. I have a slightly addictive personality.
I'm tempted to try it as well, but I've had problems with my serotonin levels in the past (anxiety), and I was successful in weaning off my meds last year. I don't want to mess that up.
Why didnt I try it when I was young and crazy? lol
even more magical, probably
MDMA is really incredible stuff. Really really incredible stuff! LOL!
Not sure what to say without going into long essay mode, but the stuff is so subtle, and in my experience, all positive. That is, assuming that it's good and pure (which is in question primarily because of the drug's black market status).
There's no question in my mind that this chemical can have a beneficial impact on attitude and outlook (not just while on it, but mid-term (at least)). The primary unknown in my experience is how it will impact long term logical thinking. I have noted that while rolling, logic doesn't seem to be strongly impacted, though empathy and sensitivity are dramatically increased. It's the long term that I'm concerned about.
That said, this would be interesting to watch.