USE OF 'RECREATIONAL' DRUG ECSTASY WITH POT FOUND TO HURT INTELLIGENCE

Even light weekend use of the party drug Ecstasy might harm
intelligence, a new study suggests.

German scientists report that weeks after partying, those who used
Ecstasy along with marijuana performed worse on intelligence tests
than people who just smoked pot or took no drugs at all. Their results
are reported this week in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and
Psychiatry.

Ecstasy, a hybrid of the hallucinogen mescaline and the stimulant
amphetamine chemically known as MDMA, has been popular among young
clubgoers in Europe for years and recently has become increasingly
widespread in the United States.

New Jersey seems to be a hotbed of this sort of activity, said Tony
Senneca, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration office in Newark. A recent massive raid at three
Sayreville nightclubs found Ecstasy and other "designer drugs" readily
available for sale, authorities said.

Previous studies have suggested that Ecstasy can cause a long-term
decrease in a brain chemical involved with thought and memory. Other
research has indicated Ecstasy can impair brain function, but mostly
investigated people who used it more often or with other drugs.

The latest research, by scientists at the University of Aachen in
Germany, also assessed a broader range of cognitive functions than any
other study to date.

"If your brain is getting zinged, then you ought to have some kind of
deficit in cognitive ability, and here it is," said Alan Leschner,
director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. "There is this
misconception that it's a benign, fun drug, and it's not."

Because it is illegal, it is difficult to measure how widely Ecstasy
is used. But a 1998 survey by the U.S. National Institute on Drug
Abuse found that an estimated 1.5 percent of Americans 12 years old or
older, or 3.4 million people, had used it at least once.

Ecstasy users report the drug can break down barriers and make people
trust each other.