Pharmacology - MDMA classification in text book.

[Samadhi]

Why is MDMA classified in my sisters Psychology book (she goes to UW) as a stimulant/hallucinogen... MDMA interacts with serotonin and dopamine to my knowledge but i've heard it does not have much in the way of being a 5ht2-a receptor agonist like most hallucinogenic drugs are (ie LSD, mescaline and psilocin)

Is this purely because of it's serotonin manipulating properties? I think the book is just throwing it in just because of it's phenethylamine structure and effects profile...

anyone with a chemistry or neuroscience background know why this is classified as this? It would really help if i could make my prissy college-attending sister be taken down a peg or two.

[Panthers007]

Evidently the person who gathered the material for the book was using antiquated sources. Such as the DEA, which refers to MDMA et al as being hallucinogens. That and I doubt those chimps can spell entactogenics - leave alone pronounce it. Even the term 'hallucinogen' is inaccurate as hallucinate implies the inability to differentiate reality from fantasy. The LSD user knows there really aren't green dragons with 10,000 rainbow-eyes climbing about on the ceiling.

I think...

[Samadhi]

When presented with the term entactogen she called it rubbish and insists she know more than i about psychoactive chemicals...

I defined MDMA as "a euphoric entactogen of the phenethylamine family closely related to MDA and MDE. It causes feeling of openness, euphoria and stimulaion. Hallucinations (patterning and tracers) are not common at all to my knowledge." she said i was wrong and required me to cite research papers of a college level caliber... i don't got any of those laying around.

Am i that far off? Because last time i checked i wasn't

The term hallucinogen is defined in her book as "any drug that changes the minds way of precieving reality."

apparently rolling on the ground sucking on a binky and telling everyone you love them to loud boom boom techno music is hallucinating.

God i hate college know-it-alls... and sisters for that matter.

[Panthers007]

Sounds like a course I would drop. I would take it up with your advisor - citing her rigidity in demanding one kiss her ass as being correct, even knowing she is wrong. For instance, her definition of hallucinate being an altered perception of reality is ludicrous.

Go get the most recent edition of the Merck Index (Merck Publishing Company, Rahway, NJ) - the big, fat chemical book any good lab would have and rely on - and look up MDMA. There, in black & white, it states it to be an entactogen. End Game.