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Ecstasy (MDMA) Information
What is Ecstasy and what are it's effects?
The chemical abbreviation for the so-called "designer" drug
Ecstasy is "MDMA."
Users of MDMA (Ecstasy) may encounter problems similar to those
experienced by amphetamine and cocaine users, including addiction.
In addition to its rewarding effects, MDMA's psychological effects
can include confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, and
paranoia during, and sometimes weeks after, taking the drug.
Physical effects can include muscle tension, involuntary teeth
clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or
sweating. Increases in heart rate and blood pressure are a special
risk for people with circulatory or heart disease. MDMA-related
fatalities at "raves" (large, all-night dance parties) have been
reported. NIDA's epidemiologic studies indicate that MDMA (Ecstasy)
use has escalated in recent years among college students and young
adults who attend these social gatherings. The stimulant effects of
Ecstasy, which enable the user to dance for extended periods,
combined with the hot, crowded conditions usually found at raves can
lead to dehydration, hyperthermia, and heart or kidney failure.
MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) damages brain serotonin
neurons. Serotonin is thought to play a role in regulating mood,
memory, sleep, and appetite. Recent research indicates heavy MDMA
use causes persistent memory problems in humans. Long-term brain
injury from use of MDMA (Ecstasy) MDMA (Ecstasy) causes long-lasting
damage to brain areas that are critical for thought and memory,
according to new research findings in The Journal of Neuroscience.
In an experiment with red squirrel monkeys, researchers at The Johns
Hopkins University demonstrated that four days of exposure to the
drug caused damage that persisted six to seven years later. These
findings help to validate previous research by the Hopkins team in
humans, showing that people who had taken MDMA scored lower on
memory tests. "The serotonin system, which is compromised by MDMA,
is fundamental to the brain's integration of information and
emotion," says Dr. Alan I. Leshner, director of the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, which
funded the research. "At the very least, people who take MDMA, even
just a few times, are risking long-term, perhaps permanent, problems
with learning and memory." The researchers found that the nerve
cells (neurons) damaged by MDMA are those that use the chemical
serotonin to communicate with other neurons. The Hopkins team had
also previously conducted brain imaging research in human MDMA
users, in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental
Health, which showed extensive damage to serotonin neurons. MDMA
(Ecstasy) tests reveal brain damage MDMA (Ecstasy) has a stimulant
effect, causing similar euphoria and increased alertness as cocaine
and amphetamine. It also causes mescaline-like psychedelic effects.
First used in the 1980s, it has become the drug of choice of young
people attending raves. In this new study, the Hopkins researchers
administered either MDMA or salt water to the monkeys twice a day
for four days. After two weeks, the scientists examined the brains
of half of the monkeys. Then, after six to seven years, the brains
of the remaining monkeys were examined, along with age-matched
controls. In the brains of the monkeys examined soon after the
two-week period, Dr. George Ricaurte and his colleagues found that
MDMA caused more damage to serotonin neurons in some parts of the
brain than in others. Areas particularly affected were the neocortex
(the outer part of the brain where conscious thought occurs) and the
hippocampus (which plays a key role in forming long-term memories).
This damage was also apparent, although to a lesser extent, in the
brains of monkeys who had received MDMA during the same two-week
period but who had received no MDMA for six to seven years. In
contrast, no damage was noticeable in the brains of those who had
received salt water.
For help with drug abuse phone
1-800-893-7060.
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