Ecstasy Might Cause Brain Damage

Ecstacy/MDMA Side Effects

There’s more evidence that the wildly-popular, feel-good “rave” drug known as ecstasy can have potentially devastating effects on brain cells. And women who use the drug for extended periods are particularly susceptible to this damage.

Also known as MDMA, ecstasy is cheap, relatively easy to get, and seems more innocuous than other “recreational” drugs because it’s taken in pill form, not snorted or injected. Ecstasy is thought to produce an overall sense of happiness and well-being by affecting the brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin.

Using the high-tech scanning device known as SPECT, Dutch researchers found that female heavy ecstasy users, when compared with light users, ex-users, and nonusers of either sex, had significant changes and reductions in the brain cells that transport serotonin. They report their findings in the Dec. 1 issue of The Lancet.

“Serotonin imbalance is thought to underlie depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and disorders of impulse control,” the researchers write.

On a positive note, the researchers suggest that the effects of heavy ecstasy use may be reversible, because the brain cells of ex-users did not show the same changes.

In an accompanying editorial, researchers from John Hopkin University School of Medicine in Baltmore call for additional, larger studies to confirm these preliminary findings and look more closely at gender differences and whether the changes really are reversible.

Rhapsody so blue, the downside of ecstasy

Research suggests designer drug may cause brain damage

THE past week has been an important time for both those who study the effects of the drug ecstasy and for those who take it.

A British study reported that long-term ecstasy users have poor memories. A German research group has suggested that even infrequent use of ecstasy may be enough to decrease your memory and reasoning ability. On Saturday, the respected medical journal The Lancet published a review of the scientific evidence about this drug. In it, we a group of Sydney researchers argue that ecstasy use is a much more hazardous activity than many users realise.

The real hazards of ecstasy use have little to do with the rare fatalities which we read about in newspaper headlines. Ecstasy users have largely discounted these sensationalist warnings about “death on the dance floor”.

They have good reason: in terms of the risk of death, taking an ecstasy tablet is safer than riding a horse. Indeed, among users, ecstasy has a reputation as a safe drug because it does not produce the craving caused by heroin and cocaine.

The real hazard of ecstasy use is that it is neurotoxic, which means it can damage nerve cells in the brain that contain the chemical serotonin. Evidence that ecstasy can be neurotoxic has emerged over the past decade. While there are methodological difficulties in such research, the consistency of findings raises a strong suspicion that ecstasy is damaging the brains of some users.

It is essential to point out that these results may only apply to long-term, high-dose users of the drug. Whether occasional use of low doses of ecstasy causes damage is not yet known.

We are concerned that more and more ecstasy users are using the drug in a way that increases the risk of these neurotoxic effects. The risk factors include: using two or more tablets of ecstasy at a time, using fortnightly or more often, using ecstasy for 24 hours or more at a time, overheating the body (for example, by dancing for hours at a time) and snorting or injecting ecstasy.

Almost all respondents to a survey of 329 Australian users identified one or more of these risk factors in their use, yet 94 per cent believed that their pattern of use was safe.

If ecstasy does damage serotonin nerve cells in humans, what effects should we expect? Firstly, it is important to note that neurotoxic damage can occur in the absence of symptoms: ecstasy users may damage their nerve cells without realising it. Nevertheless, symptoms are evident in some users. Research shows that a poorly functioning serotonin system is most often linked to depression and memory problems. So it is not surprising that some ecstasy users report irritability and depression that are related to how often and how much ecstasy they use. Nor is it surprising that there are now seven studies reporting memory problems in users.

Ethical reasons prevent researchers from doing definitive studies to test the effects of ecstasy on human brain function. But we should not let this blind us to the wide array of evidence which raises a strong suspicion that ecstasy can produce neurotoxic effects in some recreational users.

If we had the same type of evidence of harm from a pesticide or a pharmaceutical drug it would be withdrawn from the market.

Current and potential users of ecstasy need to be informed of these risks by peers in the dance party milieu and through the media they use, such as videos and the Internet. Sensationalism and paternalistic finger-waving by researchers and the media only serve to alienate those to whom we wish to provide information.

Thus, non-alarmist and accurate information is required that acknowledges uncertainties about the risks of occasional use of low doses of ecstasy, while emphasising the clearer risks that heavier and more frequent ecstasy users probably face.

FEATURE: Malaysians sober up to dangers of ecstasy

What began as a weekend drug for yuppies in Malaysia’s trendy nightspots has become the latest nightmare for authorities in the country, where ecstasy use is soaring despite the threat of long jail terms and the death sentence for those who take it.

Police and drug enforcement authorities say the illicit sale and manufacture of ecstasy, which is sold as multi-coloured pills with names like “Playboy” and “Love”, is booming as more young people get hooked on the “feel good” drug.

Ecstasy, which first appeared in Malaysia four years ago at discos specializing in techno dance music, was smuggled in via neighbouring Thailand from European countries, namely Holland and Belgium.

Since then, local drug syndicates, lured by the massive profits made in producing ecstasy pills, have set up clandestine backyard laboratories to manufacture the amphetamine-type drug at cheaper prices.

In southern Johore state, which lies across from Singapore, police have busted seven such labs so far. The chemicals needed to produce ecstasy, such as ephedrine, are believed to be smuggled in with false customs declarations or via courier firms.

An imported ecstasy pill can cost up to 200 ringgit (52.6 dollars), but those made locally, which are usually adulterated with stimulants, sell for as low as 15 ringgit each.

What was once an expensive habit of the well-to-do has now become affordable to even teenaged school students, and alarmed Malaysian authorities have begun a nationwide blitz to stamp out ecstasy.

“It’s a grave problem of great concern and the worse part is, most young people don’t seem to realize the latent danger of the drug,” said Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Ong Tee Keat.

“Many times, youths take ecstasy because it’s something fashionable or because of peer pressure as they don’t want to be left out,” he said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Statistics by police and drug enforcement authorities show that 648 people have been arrested for trafficking ecstasy pills since 1996 in Malaysia, while 130,000 pills were seized in raids or arrests.

Last month, a Singaporean man was arrested at Penang airport with 7,000 ecstasy pills strapped around his chest.

In and around Kuala Lumpur alone from May to July this year, police detained 1,007 people, aged between 17 and 45, after they were caught with ecstasy at entertainment outlets.

Police say discos and nightspots in the cities are the biggest culprits behind the surge in ecstasy, as the owners sell the pills or tolerate their sale by dealers to attract more patrons.

Ecstasy gives users a euphoric rush of energy and allows them to dance for hours. It also raises body temperature, causing users to get thirsty and buy more drinks.

Doctors warn that long term use of ecstasy weakens the heart, brain and kidneys, while local dailies recently reported a mother slashing her child to death while under an ecstasy-induced hallucination.

Public awareness of ecstasy and its dangers remain fairly low in Malaysia, where many people think of drug takers as AIDS-ridden outcasts shooting up heroin and smoking cannabis in a dirty alley.

“Social workers I talked to told me ecstasy users insist they were using ’soft’ drugs, not ‘hard’ drugs like heroin or cannabis,” said Ong, who is also youth chief of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the country’s biggest Chinese-based political party.

The MCA started the anti-ecstasy drive last month after its leaders were aghast to learn that statistics showed 90 per cent of ecstasy users were Chinese, who name the drug “shake-head pills.”

Social workers said this is because Chinese youths have higher incomes to afford the pills, while more Chinese also go to discos compared with the more conservative Moslem Malay majority.

Alarmed at the prospect of its younger generation being destroyed by the drug, the Chinese community, who form a third of Malaysia’s 23 million people, has vowed to fight ecstasy, which some have described as the newest scourge, after opium, to threaten the Chinese.

The MCA will officially launch its nationwide anti-ecstasy campaign on August 21, in cooperation with police and the government.

MCA leaders say they are already getting death threats from ecstacy pushers, who are believed linked to Chinese gangs or triads.

Ong urged tougher action against nightspots found selling ecstasy, saying he was “disturbed” at how easily some discos, which had been raided for ecstasy, soon reopened for business.

He also suggested authorities build more community centres and sports facilities, like basketball courts, so that youths could spend their free time there, instead of going to discos.

The government is setting up a committee to review and tighten laws on ecstasy and other psychotropic drugs such as “ice” or “shabu.”

Under current laws, anyone found with a minimum 50 grammes of ecstasy is deemed a drug trafficker and given the mandatory death sentence by hanging. Those whose urine show traces of ecstasy can be jailed up to two years.

The committee will study proposals such as increasing jail terms for offenders, rehabilitation for ecstasy users, and seizing property of disco owners found selling ecstasy.

Benefits of Avocadoes

Foods that are considered “complete” on their own are rare and hard to find, but eating them is always definitely worth all the wait and search. Such is avocado. Eat it on its own, or make guacamole – it’s not only yummy, it also has lots of benefits you may not even be aware of. Avocadoes have been considered as one of the most nutritious fruits. It has been proven to be loaded with protein, friendly fats, minerals and vitamins, so eating it would be like sitting through a full six-course healthy meal. Here are some benefits of avocadoes and why you should eat them more often.

1. Rich anti-oxidants: The bright yellow-green color of ripe avocadoes is brought about by its rich antioxidant content. This is why it makes such a great fruit for good skin. It can be eaten or applied on rough and irritated skin for smoothing and soothing properties.

2. Weight and fat control: Avocadoes are one of the fruits richest in friendly fats, or monounsaturated fatty acids. These fats actually balance out the effects of harmful fattening fats, so the result is a slimmer, firmer you.

3. Protection against cardiovascular conditions: Strokes are a prevalent condition today, because of cholesterol-filled diets. Avocadoes provide protection against plaque building up in blood vessels.

4. Protein: Avocadoes contain all 9 essential amino acids. In fact, it is considered a complete food because it contains a whopping 2.4% of protein, the highest among all fruits.

5. Fiber: Here’s to better digestion. Because of avocados’ rich content of dietary fiber, it makes a great adjunctive diet choice to improve gastrointestinal processes.