On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 13:35:03 -0400, Sammy <flowers@bunnyhouse.edu>
wrote:

But the NT Times is famous for it's crusades against drugs in general
- due to the focus of the editor there.

Please cite the actual studies - 2nd hand prejudice isn't worth much.

"Jasbird" <Jasbird#dead-mail-box#@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:0siinvkaqpj4t03rgabnoh9emg15h0jtek@4ax.com...
It has just been announced that Pennington Biomedical here in town will be
conducting an ephedra study. There is even some controversy about that
because on the the docs has served as an expert witness for ephedra before.

However, I know some of the people from there and have followed their work
over the years. One of my best friends from nursing school is director of
the division that implements the study designs and he always has interesting
tales to tell but never any that would make me suspect that the work done
was less than professional. (The NASA studies were fun because he had to
entertain people who were in bed without being able to get up for a
prolonged period of time. If they got up once, the study was toast.)

So, hopefully with Pennington Biomedical and other research centers, we will
have real studies to look at after a while. Information available now does
speak to the effectiveness of the medication but there are conflicting
studies on side effects.

My personal, unscientific opinion is that often ephedra is not used as
directed. Lots of teens and college age persons take the drug in excessive
quantities for the purposes of partying all night. My 18 yr old son tells
me that several of the very thin girls he knows take it to lose weight and
don't eat well at all which I imagine predisposes them to problems. Also,
the nature of the drug is such that it will add stress to the body;
especially the cardiovascular system, and therefore should be avoided by
people who are not well. Does it warrant becoming a legend drug so that it
is not available to teens, etc.? I think there are strong arguments both
ways and I would like to see more research done relative to the actual use
of the drug as opposed to the intended use.

j

If the original poster is still looking for ephedra, try either
pseudoephedrine (Sudafed and similar), or a variety of herbal sources like
Mormon Tea, Sea Grape, Ma Huang, and Yellow Horse. Mormon tea and yellow
horse may actually be the same plant, I'm not sure.

And GNC and Walmart are selling out their ephedra based
products and not restocking because they are afraid of
lawsuits when healthy people who should not have strokes
die of strokes.

Jasbird wrote:

You can still buy OTC asthma medicine such as Primatene which is a
controlled dose of ephedra. It's a better source than the herbals because
the dose is controlled and it's much cheaper.

Melissa


"Vioxel" <sirkus@postmaster.co.uk> wrote in message
news:gseeb.32$am.13@twister.austin.rr.com...

Vioxel <sirkus@postmaster.co.uk> wrote:
Pseudoephedrine has not been not shown to have thermogenic properties.
Perhaps you meant ephedrine HCL (Primatene tablets and others).

Ha Huang *is* the ephedra the OP is looking for (Ephedra sinica).

The American plant, Ephedra spp. (Mormon/desert tea) has only traces
of ephedrine-related alkaloid, AFAIH. I'm not familiar with sea grape,
but it's apparently an obscure Ephedra plant found in Russia. I think
yellow horse is an urban name for ma huang as "herbal ecstasy," but I'm
not sure.

--
jamie (jamiemck@newsguy.com)

"There's a seeker born every minute."

"jamie" <jamie@sure.spam-me-silly.net> wrote in message
news:slrnbnjuas.lcr.jamie@bozo2.local.net...
:-) I was reading this in talk.politics.drugs. I thought OP was looking
for a recreational experience. Pseudoephedrine will still cause increased
heart rate, mild visual irregularities, sleeplessness, etc., when taken in
large quantities.

You're correct that it is not thermogenic. I didn't realize that was the
goal. It may cause you to burn a _few_ extra calories to keep your heart
pumping fast, but overall a swift walk would be more effective for weight
loss.