ECSTASY CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE: STUDY

People who use the drug ecstasy have been warned it causes
irreversible brain damage.

Judith Hart from Drug Arm says new research from Lancaster in England
has found ecstasy harms the mechanism in the brain responsible for
learning and thinking quickly.

She says ecstasy has become increasingly popular in Australia and is
readily available in all capital cities and provincial centres.

Ms Hart says health professionals have been concerned for some time
about the so-called "safeness" of ecstasy being overrated.

"A research document in 1998 started to link ecstasy with irreversible
brain damage and now this is the second major study along this path,"
she said.

"This one has definitely shown that there is a major concern for
people who use this drug."