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Thomas S. May, M.A.Medical Writer |
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The Real Price of Ecstasy
By Thomas S. May, Medical Writer
Its chemical name is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA for short, but it is also known by various other names such as Ecstasy, Adam, XTC, X, or E. It comes in a small pill that can make you feel "good" or "happy" for about six hours and costs about $20. But, according to some recent data, the true price of Ecstasy-induced happiness may, in fact, be a lot higher.
A Short Trip to Nowhere
Allen Ho was a 21-year-old university student who went to an all-night dance party on October 9, last year, in Toronto, Canada, to have a good time. He did have a good time--for a few hours--but at 3:30 next morning he was discovered lying on the floor, unresponsive and having uncontrollable seizures. He died in hospital 15 hours later.
A post-mortem drug test showed that he died as a result of ingesting an unknown quantity of MDMA or Ecstasy. It was impossible to determine how many Ecstasy pills he had taken (it could have been just one or two), due to the large variability in the strength and purity of these pills, the coroner said.
Even if You Don't Die...
Although it occurs with increasing frequency, death is a relatively rare side effect of Ecstasy. There are, however, a number of other undesirable consequences that often follow the ingestion of this drug.
According to Kathy Hegadoren, PhD, who conducted an
extensive review of the literature about its effects, Ecstasy can damage
the brain and various other organs such as the liver--after just one use.
Her research shows that permanent damage is likely to occur even when MDMA
is taken in moderate amounts for a relatively short time. Dr. Robert Klitzman, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University agrees: "We know that Ecstasy can cause neurologic damage after a single use," he says. "We also know from experiments done on monkeys that the neurologic damage can last as long as seven years. And humans are much more sensitive to Ecstasy than are monkeys," Klitzman adds.
What Memory Impairment?
Dr. Karl Jansen of the Maudsley Hospital in London also believes that Ecstasy can be quite toxic. "Overall, there is a lot of animal evidence that it does cause changes to serotonin nerve terminals. It is quite likely that it is a serotonergic neurotoxin," he says.
Jansen is more skeptical about published reports of Ecstasy-induced memory impairment, however: "I think we should be very dubious about reports of memory impairment where the people publishing those papers are not able to prove that the subjects had not been taking other drugs," he argues. "In the studies we did, we asked people not to take drugs for two or three weeks, but when we tested their urine, all the tests came back positive for amphetamine and all sorts of other drugs."
Watch Out for the Rebound
One of the more undesirable properties of Ecstasy is that it causes some rather significant after-effects or rebound effects a couple of days following ingestion. After-effects can include drowsiness, muscle aches, general fatigue, and depression. "People feel quite good for about six hours and may feel a little high the next day, but then they usually feel quite low for a couple of days," Jansen says.
Serious, extended episodes of depression can also follow Ecstasy use, according to Klitzman: "I've found that people who take Ecstasy get quite depressed afterwards, and this could last several days. There are also clinical cases that have been reported of people who have developed quite severe depression or even panic attacks, or in some cases psychoses after use of Ecstasy."
Is it Addictive?
Most experts believe that MDMA is not quite as addictive as some other drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Yet, there is evidence that some people can become addicted to this drug.
"People often say that the first time [they take Ecstasy] is the best. The good effects go down and the bad effects go up after the first use," according Klitzman. Jansen's research has revealed similar findings and also found that although some people stopped taking Ecstasy when it didn't work anymore, others continued to take it in quite large amounts. "I guess you can say that it can be used in a compulsive way," Jansen has told CBSHealthWatch by Medscape.
Ecstasy Spreads... And So Do STDs
Klitzman's research involved going to a number of clubs in New York City and having people fill out questionnaires about their drug use and other behavior. "What I've found out is that Ecstasy was the third most common drug after alcohol and marijuana. 50% of the people used Ecstasy in the past year and about 20% used it once a week," Klitzman said.
Another interesting--and unexpected--finding was that people who used Ecstasy were almost three times as likely to have unsafe sex as those who were not Ecstasy users. "This suggests that people who use Ecstasy might be more likely to end up getting infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases," Klitzman says. "People say 'I only use it once a month, so it's okay'. But the danger is that it could still cause brain damage and lead to unsafe sex," he cautions.
Sidebar:Long-term Effects of Ecstasy*
*Legend:
1 = possible (some scientific evidence is available)
2 = probable (moderate amount of evidence has been collected)
3 = very likely (considerable evidence exists)
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