Recent U.K. study suggests MDMA impairment is not always permanent

by Charles Meyer

There’s a common saying among youth in the United States that ecstasy, or MDMA, takes “scoops out of your brain.” While this dramatic image has no scientific basis, ecstasy use is known to cause at least some harm to the brain’s cognitive skills. At the same time, the American public needs to understand the nature of ecstasy’s negative effects and to what extent they are reversible with time.

According to a recent study at the University of Westminster, London, ex-users of ecstasy (MDMA) and non-users show no significant differences in cognitive impairment. Meanwhile, current light users tested only slightly lower than ex-users and non-users, exhibiting “small but significant cognitive impairment.”

The study, which was published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, carried out nine consecutive tests on current light users, ex-users, and non-users MDMA. Current light users were defined as those who took two or less tablets of ecstasy at a time once per month. Ex-users were those who had abstained from ecstasy use for at least six months and before that took an average of 1.38 tablets in a night with an average total of eight tablets in a year. Non-users meant individuals who had never ingested ecstasy.

Ecstasy, often called E, is popular among urban youth at nightclubs and massive all-night dance parties called raves, where partiers refer to their ecstasy use as “rolling.” Ecstasy use reached an all-time high in 2001 when 11.7% of 12th graders in the United States had tried the drug at least once, according to Monitoring the Future, a study of American youth funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

After 2001 the annual study showed a decline of that figure to 5.4% 12th graders in 2005. Since then, the numbers have risen back to 6.5%, possibly suggesting the oncoming of a “new epidemic of ecstasy use.”

“Ecstasy doesn’t seem to be going away,” said Robert H. Coombs, Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the University of California—Los Angeles, “and the information circulating about the effects MDMA has on the human body continues to be ambiguous and contradictory.”

The study, therefore, comes at a crucial time. As ecstasy continues to gain popularity, new users of MDMA will have to weigh the drug’s benefits with its risks. “Young people need to be able to make informed decisions on their recreational activities,” added Coombs.

Ecstasy’s short-term benefits include intense feelings of euphoria, heightened sympathy and improved communication, along with up to six hours of alertness and energy. Meanwhile, many are gravely concerned about its effects on cognitive functioning in the long run.

Little to no research has “fully investigated…the effect of MDMA on cognition in relatively light or occasional users,” according to the University of Westminster study. “Many young people make fairly infrequent use of the drugs, and it is important to find out whether they are also a risk of significant cognitive impairment.”

Many high-school and college age kids have used ecstasy with little or no perceived consequences. “I’ve done E upwards of twenty times, and seriously I haven’t had any problems,” explained Chris Hass, a junior at Santa Clara University.

Some users experienced slight decreases in their cognitive abilities but found ways around the problems. “When I first started doing ecstasy, I could tell that I wasn’t remembering things as well afterwards,” said SCU sophomore Justin Stills, “but I haven’t rolled in three months and I feel more on top of things than ever.”

Still other young people find ecstasy troubling to their mental and emotional stability. “I’m not going to do E again,” declared SCU business major Paul Teper. “It really screwed me up for while.”

Clayton Miller, a senior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, also found ecstasy’s aftereffects to overshadow the benefits. “I took one and a half pills at a rave last weekend, and this whole week I haven’t been able to focus and don’t even want to talk to anyone,” he said.

While the symptoms of these users vary, the University of Westminster study showed actual mental damage of current light users to be relatively minor.

Drawing on the data from tests involving immediate memory recall, delayed recall, hand motor skills, perceptual speed in decision making, and verbal, logical and reasoning ability, the study emphasized the nearly identical cognitive abilities of ex-users and non-users. Ex-users performed better than non-users on some tests and worse on others, but only by minimal differences in each case.

The results of the study do not suggest that MDMA consumption is altogether innocuous, noting that previous research has shown “fairly severe impairment” in heavy ecstasy users.

“I’ve done too much thizz; I’m never going to be like I used to,” said SCU English major Mario Sanchez, using a colloquial term for MDMA specific to the San Francisco Bay Area.

“I’m an E-head, and my brain’s pretty fried,” admitted Mario Laric, a Vermont native who now plays professional soccer in Eastern Europe. “I don’t even know how many pills I’ve munched. Hundreds.”

The general vibe at electronic music festivals and raves sustains a carefree attitude, according to the young ecstasy users who attend them. “When I bought this green pill from a friendly guy at a weekend-long concert,” said Stills, “I asked him what it was like and how I would feel the next day, and he was just like, ‘Who cares? Just take it—have a blast!’”

Stills reported feeling fine the next morning but realizes that it isn’t smart to purchase MDMA from strangers. “If you’re going to do E, you’ve got to be responsible. Watch out for the law, and buy pills from people you know who have already tested them out,” he said. “And don’t take E often.”

The University of Westminster report states that nearly all prior research conclusions as well as those drawn from the present study are indeed still tentative. Research on the effects of ecstasy remains in need of refinement.

Nevertheless, the findings of the study do point to one conclusion: the brain’s power to repair itself after ecstasy use may be stronger than we thought.

- 30 -

Note: The names of ecstasy users have been altered to protect their identity.

Word Count: 1,015

Sources:

Denton, Z., J. F. Golding, D. H. Groome, N. Rycroft. “Cognitive Performance in Light Current

Users and Ex-Users of Ecstasy (MDMA) and Control.” University of Westminster,

London, UK. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 33: 301-307, 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=25084711&site=ehost-live>.

Bachman, Jerald G., Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M O’Malley, John E. Schulenberg. Monitoring

the Future. “National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2007.” The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.<http://www.monitoring

thefuture.org/pubs/monographs/overview2007.pdf>.

Robert H. Coombs

To contact any of the others interviewed for this report, please e-mail the author at