The Dark Side of Ecstasy

[Mugz]

Abstract: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is a known neurotoxin in animals. This review discusses the history, pattern of use, pharmacology, acute and long-term effects of MDMA. Emphasis is given to the concern that MDMA may induce long-term cognitive and psychiatric effects. MDMA is an illegal substance, and investigations of the effects of exposure in human beings have limitations and weaknesses. There are numerous studies suggesting a correlation between MDMA exposure and psychopathology, and that the psychotropic effects may be long-lasting or permanent. However, it is not possible to conclude that there is a causal relationship between exposure and the increased psychopathology observed in MDMA users. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess whether MDMA causes persistent cognitive impairment and/or psychiatric symptoms in human beings.

Does anyone have access to the full text because i would like to read it, it was written in the Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology

 

[CloudyHazeD]

Who's the author of that?

Is that the infamous study where meth was accidently used instead of MDMA?

 

[Mugz]

i have to admit i hadnt heard of a study that did that so this may be it. The authors were Sunniva Nyberg Karlsen, Olav Spigset and Lars Slørdal

 

[<pyridinyl_30>]

Psychometrically, past heavy mdma usage has been shown to be correlated with a small (about 30 percent) but significant reduction in short term memory capacity. No other psychological skiils were found to be negatively impacted, including intelligence.

And, yes, there is an infamous study in which the mdma was mixed up with methamphetamine, and 3 monkeys died from what the researchers thought was mdma but was actually speed. The error was discovered when the lead scientist could not duplicate his erroneous results.

 

[Xorkoth]

My personal experience with MDMA has been negative after the first few times. Nothing has ever thrown my emotions off so severely and frighteningly. It took quite some time to recover after the last time I used it. I am not a depressed or unbalanced person normally. In fact, I consider myself very stable and happy. However, I was suicidal at times after the last time, and it wasn't just for a couple of days. It lasted for approximately a month before it started to get better.

FWIW

 

[stealthtrucker]

sounds like you had a bad ride, the first time can sometimes be extremely overwhelming.

try it again please. go through a different source just for good measure.

you could of also been taking some sort of supplement or other drugs which have a bad interaction with MDMA.


... or maybe it's not for you, but please just try it once more, because mdma is a wonderful drug to experience when it works for you

 

[fastandbulbous]

Psychometrically, past heavy mdma usage has been shown to be correlated with a small (about 30 percent) but significant reduction in short term memory capacity. No other psychological skiils were found to be negatively impacted, including intelligence.

On a purely observational basis, I've come to the conclusion that heavy, long term (ab)use of MDMA causes a noticable increase in anxiety (that being free-floating anxiety and not reactive to a stressor). Just about everyone I know that went in for an orgy of disco biscuit eating is a much more anxious person than the person I knew before they were exposed to MDMA. Mind you, people I know who have much more conservative use, say once every couple of months, are no more anxious and a fair few seem more content and at ease with themselves and the world.

Just like everything else, a little of what you fancy does you good - more than that does not produce an increase in wellbeing, in fact quite the opposite

 

[ebola?]

>>Psychometrically, past heavy mdma usage has been shown to be correlated with a small (about 30 percent) but significant reduction in short term memory capacity.>>

1. I'd like to see the study.
2. This is hardly a small reduction in STM.
3. STM is one of the most important characteristics of so-called fluid intelligence.
4. Does this hold equally for visual vs. verbal STM? While the two correlate, they do not converge completely, and there is evidence that different areas of the brain are involved in their processing.

ebola

 

[foundationx4]

one thing is for sure, ecstasy use is not improving upon your short term memory

 

[swilow]

My personal experience with MDMA has been negative after the first few times. Nothing has ever thrown my emotions off so severely and frighteningly. It took quite some time to recover after the last time I used it. I am not a depressed or unbalanced person normally. In fact, I consider myself very stable and happy. However, I was suicidal at times after the last time, and it wasn't just for a couple of days. It lasted for approximately a month before it started to get better.

FWIW

Out of curiosity, were you taking 'pure' MDMA or pills?

I went nuts on pills, which in Aus are often MDMA, meth and ketamine; sometime pure ket, sometimes bunks, sometimes MDxxxxxxxxxx; and massive methamphetamine use- it was only after that that sever panic symptoms started arising. Largely, I think it was from taking god-knows-what in a pill over and over as well as snorting/smoking meth- so I would be curious to see if use of PURE MDMA has a similar fucked effect...? I went through extremes of suicidality as well.

At the same time, other phenthylamines have not adversely affected me, but I haven't used them in even a nth of the amount I dropped MDxxxXxX....though combing mescaline at a low dose and meth brought about a very strange and frigheningly manic headspace that felt more 'dangerous' then other headspaces I've been in. Tryptamines and LSD use has not bought about anything unwanted in either a physical or mental sense. What is it about MDMA? Or is it more about 'Ecstasy'?

 

[dorothyperkins]

I found the short term after effects of pills and pure MDA about the same. Haven't tried MDMA. They haven't been that bad off either, just feel fairly depressed and mentally slow for a few days, but i haven't used MDX's that much.

Taking MDA as kind of a stimulant at maybe 60mg for a few days in a row resulted in pretty bad depression for the next few days. I think it's just neurotransmitter depletion, i'd like to see what difference would be made by supplementing with 5-htp and whatever else.

 

[rikki_tikki]

Some articles of relevance.

1. Toxicodynamics and long-term toxicity of the recreational
drug, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA,
‘Ecstasy’)

2. Memory performance in polyvalent MDMA (ecstasy) users
who continue or discontinue MDMA use

3. How strong is the evidence that brain serotonin neurons are damaged
in human users of ecstasy?

4. Psychobiological
Drug and Alcohol Dependence problems in heavy ‘ecstasy’ (MDMA) polydrug
users

5. Specific neurotoxicity of chronic use of ecstasy

http://mihd.net/vjnwiu

 

[Sandbag]

And, yes, there is an infamous study in which the mdma was mixed up with methamphetamine, and 3 monkeys died from what the researchers thought was mdma but was actually speed. The error was discovered when the lead scientist could not duplicate his erroneous results.

For anyone who is interested in reading more about this botched $1.3M study led by ass-hat-at-large, George Ricaurte, the following links should prove enlightening:
http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/studyresponse.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotoxicity_of_MDMA_controversy
http://www.maps.org/mdma/bcp121003.html

"George . . . panders to [his] grantmakers and to the prohibitionist ethic," Doblin agrees. "As long as these drugs are illegal we need to present them as poisonous or else how do we justify these incredibly harsh penalties?" Those penalties became even harsher when, in January 2003, the RAVE Act was passed. Although he did not personally testify before Congress, opponents of RAVE feel the media attention surrounding his Parkinson's story contributed a lot to the bill's success.

"It was in the climate," Doblin notes. "It was so highly publicized that one would suspect that the people in Congress . . . who were working on these bills, as well as their constituents, had this erroneous impression."

Grob agrees that Ricaurte's work "lent an urgency to the proceedings" of the congressional debates.

*Edit*
Gotta love the money trail:

Rick Doblin, on the eve of his own study, says the payoffs for such shoddy science have been immense. "Leshner was willing to exaggerate findings to pander to politicians for money," he says. Leshner did help NIDA bring home the bacon: NIDA's budget for Ecstasy research has more than quadrupled over the past five years, from $3.4 million to $15.8 million; the agency funds 85 percent of the world's drug-abuse research.

 

[sushii]

I have access to this if anyone else wants it.

Mugabe, I've sent you a PM.

 

[Mugz]

^Thankyou very much

 

[5-HT2]

>>Psychometrically, past heavy mdma usage has been shown to be correlated with a small (about 30 percent) but significant reduction in short term memory capacity.>>

1. I'd like to see the study.
2. This is hardly a small reduction in STM.
3. STM is one of the most important characteristics of so-called fluid intelligence.
4. Does this hold equally for visual vs. verbal STM? While the two correlate, they do not converge completely, and there is evidence that different areas of the brain are involved in their processing.

ebola

I'm not an expert on this literature, but I believe that these observations have been reproduced independently quite a few times. Just do a couple searches on pubmed and plenty of studies should come up.

 

[Black]

couldn't the memory impairment be due to cannabis use in ecstasy users, as the following study suggests?

AIM: To assess memory impairment in a group of regular users of ecstasy compared with a group of regular users of cannabis, after accounting for possible confounding factors such as other drug use, premorbid intelligence and psychopathology.
METHODS: Comparative and regression analysis was used to determine the presence or absence of a difference in memory function between 40 regular ecstasy users and 37 regular users of cannabis, who were interviewed at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney, Australia. Regression analysis was used to find associations between life-time exposure to ecstasy use and memory performance. Memory function was assessed using an age-standardized memory test. Other scales were used to assess premorbid intelligence, physical and psychological health, drug withdrawal and other drug use.
RESULTS: Initial comparative analysis showed a trend towards a significantly poorer performance by the regular ecstasy-using group on the \'auditory immediate memory\' and \'auditory delayed memory\' indices. When regression analysis was performed an estimate of verbal intelligence was found to be the most predictive of most memory indices including \'auditory immediate memory\' and \'auditory delayed memory\'. Life-time exposure to ecstasy was not predictive of the memory indices. The current frequency of cannabis use was found to have some predictive effect for immediate and delayed visual memory.
CONCLUSIONS: This study does not show memory impairment in a group of ecstasy users relative to cannabis using controls. The previously reported association of life-time exposure to ecstasy and memory was not found. The findings may indicate a confounding role of cannabis use, as has been recently reported.

from Simon NG, Mattick RP "The impact of regular ecstasy use on memory function", Addiction, 2002; 97(12):1523-9

 

[Dondante]

Practically all the studies that look at the effects of ecstasy on cognitive function look at the effects on current users, with different levels of use, but very few look at ex-users. I have no doubt that there are negative effects on cognition from the use of ecstasy, but I was curious how permanent these could be. This study seems to hint that at least in light users the deficits are transient.

Cognitive performance in light current users and ex-users of ecstasy (MDMA) and controls.
Golding JF, Groome DH, Rycroft N, Denton Z.
University of Westminster, London, UK.

Previous research has shown that heavy users of ecstasy (MDMA) may suffer impaired cognitive functioning, and the present study set out to investigate whether such impairment might also be found in light users or ex-users of MDMA. Sixty subjects, comprising 20 current light users, 20 ex-users, and 20 non-users of ecstasy, were tested on an extensive battery of cognitive tests. Current light users of ecstasy achieved significantly lower scores on the overall cognitive test battery than did the non-users (p = .011), though there were no significant differences on any individual subtests. However, the scores obtained by the ex-users of ecstasy did not differ significantly from those of the non-users. It was concluded that current light users of ecstasy show a small but significant cognitive impairment, but that no such impairment is detectable in ex-users who had abstained from the drug for at least 6 months.

PMID: 17497553 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

F&B's comment on anxiety seems to match with my observations. The same goes for heavy abuse of other drugs too although I'm not sure how permanent these effects are since most people I know with drug-induced anxiety are still using drugs.

 

[Arnold]

I'm not sure how permanent these effects are since most people I know with drug-induced anxiety are still using drugs.

Personal observation with a little help everything will go away, without help it will take more then 2 years.

 

[SynAmnesia]

I have read a paper about how people with a certain allele of the 5-HTT gene are more suceptible to stress than those without it. In fact, the one that causes the stress is actually the dominant gene.

Influence of Life Stress on
Depression: Moderation by a
Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene
Caspi, et al. Science, 301.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/301/5631/386

I have read somewhere else that people with that gene are more likely to get ecstasy related depression:

Association of a Functional Polymorphism in the Serotonin Transporter Gene With Abnormal Emotional Processing in Ecstasy Users

Jonathan P. Roiser, B.A.
Lynnette J. Cook, Ph.D.
Jason D. Cooper, Ph.D.
David C. Rubinsztein, M.D., Ph.D.
Barbara J. Sahakian, Ph.D.

Objective: The long-term effects of the use of 3,4-methylene-
dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or Ecstasy) in humans are
controversial and unclear. The authors’ goal was to assess the
contribution of a functional polymorphism in the gene encod-
ing serotonin transporter to changes in emotional processing
following chronic Ecstasy use.

Method: They investigated Beck Depression inventory scores and perfomrance on the Affective Go/No-go test, a computerized neuropsychological test sensitive to emotional processing, in Ecstasy users and comparison subjects, stratifying the results by serotonin transporter genotype.

Results: Ecstasy use was associated with higher Beck Depres-
sion Inventory score and abnormalities in the Affective Go/No-
Go test in individuals with the ss and ls genotype but not those
with the ll genotype.

Conclusions: Ecstasy users carrying the s allele, but not com-
parison subjects carrying the s allele, showed abnormal emo-
tional processing. On the basis of a comparison with acute tryp-
tophan depletion, the authors hypothesize that chronic Ecstasy
use may cause long-term changes to the serotonin system, and that Ecstasy users carry the s allele may be at particular risk for emotional dysfunction.

Am Am J Psychiatry 2005; 162:609–612)

Although not related to that gene of question, also interesting:

Jonathan P. Roiser1 and Barbara J. Sahakian1 Contact Information
(1) Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Addenbrookersquos Hospital, Hills Road, Box 189, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK

Received: 22 September 2003 Accepted: 24 October 2003 Published online: 3 December 2003
Abstract
Rationale 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ldquoecstasyrdquo) causes serotonin neuron damage in laboratory animals. The serotonin system is known to be important in the regulation of mood. Previous research has shown that MDMA users score higher on self-report ratings of depression than controls. However, MDMA users commonly take other illicit substances and many studies do not fully control for poly-drug use.
Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between MDMA use and affective disturbance, while fully controlling for poly-drug use.
Methods Participants were 30 current MDMA users, 30 poly-drug controls who had never used MDMA, 30 drug-naïve controls with no history of illicit drug use and 20 ex-MDMA users. The current MDMA users and poly-drug controls were well matched on all indices of non-MDMA drug use. All participants were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Affective Go/No-go task, which has been shown to be sensitive to depression.
Results The current and ex-MDMA users scored significantly higher on the BDI than the drug-naive controls, but were not significantly different from the poly-drug controls. There were no differences between the groups in terms of affective bias scores on the Affective Go/No-go task.
Conclusions Increased scores on self-report depression scales in MDMA users are not entirely attributable to MDMA use. MDMA users do not show the same attentional bias towards negatively toned material as depressed patients.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/gll83k9w9nb5yunt/