PREGNANT ECSTASY USERS DRINK MORE, SMOKE MORE

Expectant mothers who take ecstasy tend to drink more, smoke more and have
more unplanned pregnancies than those who don't take the drug, a new study
says.

"This study is the first to examine the characteristics of pregnant women
who use ecstasy," said Dr. Gideon Koren, one of the authors of the report,
which appears in the December issue of Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

"These women are using not only ecstasy, but often many other drugs of
abuse, in addition to higher-than-average rates of alcohol use."

Koren said he was surprised at the findings because ecstasy is often
perceived as a non-addictive drug that doesn't go hand-in-hand with heavy
drinking.

"It is depicted as something that makes people relaxed, optimistic, not
aggressive, loving," he said. "There is a perception out there that's ...
not associated with the stereotype heavy drug user."

Participants in the study, which compared 132 pregnant women who used
ecstasy with 122 women who did not, used the city's Motherisk pregnancy
counselling program between December 1998 and October 2000.

In addition to increased smoking, drinking and drug use, the study also
determined that pregnant women who use ecstasy tend to be young and single,
and frequently report psychiatric concerns, including anxiety, depression
and insomnia.

Unplanned pregnancies were also more common in the group that took ecstasy.

Most women in the study took ecstasy only once during their pregnancy and
stopped using the drug when they found out they were expecting.

There has been a sharp increase in ecstasy use in the past decade,
according to the report, with one Canadian survey citing an eightfold
increase in ecstasy use among youth since 1993.

Koren is the director of Motherisk and a professor at the University of Toronto.