ECSTASY DRUG USE LINKED TO MEMORY LOSS

People taking the rave drug Ecstasy show subtle but significant
changes in verbal memory after trying the drug for the first few
times, Dutch researchers said.

New users of the drug, which is popular at dance clubs, who had taken
a relatively low cumulative dose of about three tablets of Ecstasy
scored lower on tests that required them to memorize a series of
words and then recall them later. A casual observer wouldn't notice
this degree of memory impairment, which also would be no handicap to
a person, but it's possible it could increase future risk of dementia
or memory problems, said Dr. Thelma Schilt of the Academic Medical
Center of the University of Amsterdam.

"We also don't know what happens when the brain gets older," she added.

A number of studies have linked Ecstasy with impaired verbal memory,
but most research has been done in heavy users of the drug, according
to the researchers who reported the findings in the Archives of
General Psychiatry.

To better understand the effects of lower doses, the researchers
enrolled 188 people, average age 22, who said they had never used the
drug but were considering trying. About three years later they
compared 58 people who had started using Ecstasy to a matched group
of 60 individuals who had not tried the drug.

Those who hadn't used Ecstasy showed improvements in verbal recall
over time in a series of five trials of their ability to memorize 15
words. Verbal recall for Ecstasy users didn't improve over the course
of the trials, and worsened over time.

"They missed the retest effect that is normal and that we could see
in controls," Schilt explained. The users had taken an average of 3.2
tablets in total since they began using Ecstasy, while most had used
a cumulative dose of 1.5 tablets.