Club Drugs (Ecstasy & Methamphetamine) Can Cause Permanent Brain Damage

Just how safe are club drugs? Not very, say researchers. In fact, they compare the damage that club drugs cause with having a traumatic brain injury. Both traumatic brain injuries and club drugs can lead to memory loss, cell death, and both can cause irreversible brain damage.

Researchers at the University of Florida recently detailed their findings in a recent press release. Most of the current crop of club drugs are some type of methamphetamine, including the commonly known drugs, Ecstasy or speed. They conducted a five-year study to determine what effects, if any, these drugs might cause.

The researchers determined that both methamphetamine use and traumatic brain injuries causes the same type of damage to the cell structures and protein fluctuations in the brain. Over 30,000 different proteins are found in the human brain. Methamphetamine use and traumatic brain injuries alter about 12 percent of these proteins.

Since the damage caused by methamphetamine use and traumatic brain injuries is so similar, researchers theorize that the same, or very similar, process is at work, regardless of which of the two factors caused the process to begin.

While many methamphetamine users think that these drugs wear off just like alcohol or aspirin, they may be wrong, said the researchers. Based upon the data they studied, researchers believe that the damage caused by methamphetamine use is "not readily reversible." Whether or not the damage can ever be reversed would need to be the subject of a different study.

"Using methamphetamine is like inflicting a traumatic brain injury on yourself. We found that a lot of brain cells are being injured by these drugs. That's alarming to society now. People don't seem to take club drugs as seriously as drugs such as heroin or cocaine," said Firas Kobeissy, a postdoctoral associate in the College of Medicine department of psychiatry

According to a 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over 1.3 million people reported using methamphetamine drugs in the previous month. The drug use included young people as young as 12 years old. Additionally, over 12 million Americans admitted that they have tried methamphetamines at some point in the past according to a 2004 survey.

What are club drugs?
The term, club drugs, refers to the general class of drugs that many people consume when they go to dance parties, music parties, or clubs. Examples include the drug called Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, as well as other varieties of methamphetamine drugs.

Where are club drugs used?
Club drugs are usually used at parties that are geared to young adults, and often attracht people ranging from 16 to 29 years old. There are many different names for these parties. Sometimes the party is called a 'rave,' sometimes a 'trance,' or they could even be used at the dance club down the street.

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Club Drugs (Ecstasy & Methamphetamine) Can Cause Permanent Brain Damage

They're Just as Dangerous as a Traumatic Brain Injury

By Patty Oh
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/464008/club_drugs_ecstasy_methamphetamine.html

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Sources from the author:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uof-cdi112907.php
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/clubdrugs.html
http://www.theantidrug.com/drug_info/drug_info_clubdrugs.asp

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Im not shur how accurate this article is. But i can agree in some ways, I know my memory is totally fucked up from heavy MDMA use. (400mgs+ a weekend for 3 years)

Crazeee said:

While many methamphetamine users think that these drugs wear off just like alcohol or aspirin

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I am speechless.

^ I second that.. was going to say tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people that go to the hospital every year for alcohol related problems

I wanna know how they conducted the study people or animals what drugs were actually used and at what doses. Though I cant say I see a reason to completly disregard the findings

Ive noticed from reading drugs in the media everyday since i've been a member (over a year ago) and I noticed that every single bad thing said about drugs is torn a part from users on this site. Yes many of these studies may be government funded or extremely biased or extremely inaccurate but you cant tell me there is not a bit of truth to all these articles.

In all honesty I dont disagree with this at all, I am not the the same person I was before drug use... Im not as quick to pull out words, my speech is definately not as coherent and fast as it used to be, people say my eyes look extremely spaced out, things seem a lot harder to wrap my mind around. 2 years from 16 to 18 of rampant drug use including ecstacy around 40 times, acid just over 10 times, shrooms just over 10 times, pounds of marijuana, many nights of way to much cocaine, and many many many other various substances.

I was young, loved to party and partially insane during my adolescent years in my opinion. I dont think that I didnt understand the consequences of the use but I didnt want to hear it, thought it couldnt happen to me, or just ignored it. My life is changed forever and my mental state is in shambles at times because of what drugs have done to my mind.

Ive not used either methamphetamine (don't really want to) nor MDMA (got noone to trip with these days) but id say that a single use of MDMA does no more damage to your brain then a night of hard drinking thats for sure. Probably less and it sure as hell causes alot less chaos from what ive seen.

When i used to drink a night out would usually do me right in for a day or 2. Of course when i became a alcoholic i was always drinking thus i became used to feeling half brain dead.

I got drunk a few months ago and i was completely fucked for 2 days after so obviously alcohol isn't as reversible as these researchers claim. Sure ive seen my share of E tards but they where alot less of a mess then alcoholics.

wow methamphetamine is neurotoxic... didnt know that 8(
i pay attention to the use of the term "club drug"..

The researchers determined that both methamphetamine use and traumatic brain injuries causes the same type of damage to the cell structures and protein fluctuations in the brain. Over 30,000 different proteins are found in the human brain. Methamphetamine use and traumatic brain injuries alter about 12 percent of these proteins.

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so basically, in a club setting, methamphetamine horribly damages the brain, but if you get desoxyn or adderall prescribed (adderall just lacking a methyl group compared to dexmethamphetamine)
its fine, so safe that they actually give it to toddlers.

Where is the data suggesting that specifically MDMA causes this kind of damage? What about the whole dopamine "attacking" serotonin receptors/vesicles thing? and MAO adding to it, etc. Im really confused about the true neurotoxicity of MDMA in general. Also, methamphetamine and MDMA work very differently. just becuz mdma is methylenedioxymethampetamine does not make it meth. It acts in a completely different manner: primarily on dopamine, which ecstasy uses some dopamine, norepinephrine, etc but is mostly caused by serotonin. methamphetamine does not create the same rush of serotonin, whereas MDMA (as far as I know) does not cause the same intensity of dopaminergic effects as meth.

THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT IT LIKE ITS THE SAME DRUG.

Someone clue me in on wtf the reality of the situation is? And where's the proof in this "study"

maybe i'm missing something but did that article actually have any data about drugs other than meth?
they threw around some data about meth, but it seemed like they were trying to trash all club drugs just by associating them with meth.
IME yeah ecstasy pills do leave me a little fried if i over do it. But a while ago i did some pure mdma and it only left me sleepy and dehydrated.

I think if they had some real data on MDMA it'd be all over the place...but that doesn't seem the case at all. It seems like they're just trying to make all 'club drugs' bad by association with meth. unless there is something obvious i missed...

Yeah, the only time in the article they mention "Ecstasy" is the 2nd paragraph.. I love it.

This is a study about meth, not "CLUB DRUGS"

Everyone, read THIS

The last sentence clearly says:
“Abuse of methamphetamine is very dangerous.”

^this is the conclusion. meth and X dont work the same way and I see zero proof of anything at all.

I've known meth was neurotoxic, but nobody knows exactly how damaging (if it turns out even being neurotoxic, which im sure it is to some degree but much less than the propaganda wants us to believe) MDMA truly is and where the line of recreation/neurotoxicity lies.

This is simply propaganda, they're throwing in the name "ecstasy" simply because it has MA in its' structure

I think a huge factor they can't separate in a study like this is the lifestyle and personality of someone who is a heavy meth/x user.

Those people are depressed and socially isolated and there isn't any way their brains have enough good stimulus to develop normally anyway.

But to say its comparable to dramatic brain trauma is disturbing no matter how you look at it. All that pleasure must be like a million little punches on every neuron.

In fact, they compare the damage that club drugs cause with having a traumatic brain injury. Both traumatic brain injuries and club drugs can lead to memory loss, cell death, and both can cause irreversible brain damage.

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... especially the most popular club drug, alcohol

The article seems to really only mention meth until the end. It actually kinda sounds like they are trying to say mdma is a "type" of methamphetamine.

http://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=1484&fmt=page

Methamphetamine is not MDMA
Commentary on "Club Drugs Inflict Damage Similar to Traumatic Brain Injury"
Science Daily, Nov 30, 2007

Despite the headline "Club Drugs Inflict Damage Similar To Traumatic Brain Injury," that recently appeared in Science Daily, the findings the article go on to describe are for methamphetamine, and not MDMA. Contrary to what this article states, MDMA is not a "type of methamphetamine," and while the two drugs share similarities in structure, their actions in the brains of rats and people are different.

The difference between the drugs is evident when considering the paper that Ricaurte had to retract after it turned out that he had administered methamphetamine to monkeys instead of MDMA.

People taking ecstasy may be unintentionally ingesting methamphetamine, but in no other way are these particular findings applicable to MDMA.

Even if the studies described referred to MDMA, the findings refer to discoveries concerning protein markers of oxidative stress. It is not news that oxidative stress is one of the main models explaining neurotoxicity after high or repeated doses of MDMA in nonhuman animals.

The researchers presented the data described in this article at a presentation at the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. As it happens, they have published previous research with MDMA. One of those papers stated that MDMA produced lesser signs of oxidative stress than methamphetamine, and the other study was a study in cells using a dose of MDMA hundreds of times the size of exposure after a typical human dose.

There already exists a wealth of studies comparing ecstasy users with non-users, and these studies provide a better measure of real-world effects than rat studies, which are done in this case to study models of oxidative stress. Heavy ecstasy users show problems with memory and decision-making, but no one has compared these problems against those in people with traumatic brain injury.

Retarded article. Lets just have Ricaurte shoot up some more monkeys while were at it.

worst article evar

I suppose the only possible way in which the article may be forgiven is that if people accept that - in a lot of cases - it can be very hard to obtain pure mdma or other 'club drugs'. I've taken countless pills that definitely haven't had a shitload of mdma in them (and I've taken more that have ). Pills generally are dodgy and contain alot of shit that was byproduced during their manufacture.

I doubt anyone (who's pilled more than a handle of times) can say they've never got a pill which at least didn't have some meth or speed in it. Maybe it's possible to go further and suggest that people who do enjoy meth, tend to also use stuff like mdma.... pretty loose argument, and I'm not defending the article at all, because it is shitful, but you'd have to already have brain damage if you didn't believe this shit was fucking up your brain.


Respect and Peace

I wont even bother to comment.

Nice addition entheogensmurf! Gotta love MAPS!

EDIT: Spelling.