What hard evidence is there that ecstasy causes brain damage?

Question

I know about the opra apearance, but really settingaside the knee-jerk conservative reactions of the great middle class, not confusing moral censure with scientific fact, what IS the evidence, and why was it made illegal when it was being used by therapists.Is it worse than viagra, which has caused many deaths, and also the ssris?

Answer 1

It causes holes in the brain. The medically prescribed version is regulated by the FDA, so the amounts of certain chemicals are different. The uncontrolled, unmonitored version is the problem. There is nothing that will tell you if the batch that was made was made right, or without added chemicals.

The doses are higher in the street version and potentialy fatal. If you do a search online for CAT scans and ecstasy, you will find that they show actual holes in the brain. These holes can't be repaired by the brain, so the person is left with less brain matter then they started with. That in itself can cause problems.

There is also the added concern of overdose with street versions, and now they have added chemicals to give you that "extra" high. This is very unsafe and can cause instant death.

A person who uses street grade ecstasy for long periods of time have been found to be slower with learning, dailey activities and speech then those who have never used. There is also the potential for other drugs to get involved, since you aren't thinking of your own free will when you are taking them.

You can have nerve damage from taking it, and it has been shown that people that take it all the time will develop a shortage of dopamine in the brain that can only be raised by taking the drug.

Dopamine is the chemical that causes you to be happy and content in life, esctasy bumps that chemical production up and then when you crash, it takes your brain a while to make that chemical again, so you are left with low dopamine that can cause severe depression, suicidal tendencies and lethergy.

If a person takes esctasy for long periods of time, the brain will stop making dopamine to make up for the large amounts of synthetic chemicals it is getting from the drug. The brain starts to think that it's producing too much and will stop making it, leaving the person in a perpetual state of depression. The only cure is medication, so it's a vicious cycle.

Answer 2

I recall there was a study that showed it reduced the number of seratonin receptors in brain cells. The most worrying thing is that the change was permanant and those who used ecstasy regularly also showed higher rater of developing certain mental disorders including depression, bipolar disorder and poor short term memory and had impaired coordination. Those who took ecstasy under 20 years of age were affected even after only taking it once! I wish i could give you the reference but i forgot as i only read it in passing.

Answer 3

I went to nuclear medicine school at a university that was active in research. I helped in some nuclear medicine brain scans that showed that there was decreased blood flow to the cortex of the cerebellum, and there was decreased brain reaction to various stimuli while imagining. I can't remember which drug patients were involved but they all were similar in many ways.

Answer 4

Nov. 29, 2001 -- 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.

Answer 5

A CAT scan will reveal holes in your brain, i'm certain

Answer 6

the after affects it has on people are all recorded in autopsies, i find it very surprising all the damage that one drug can do, look for more specifications at webmd.com, im sure they have answers