ILLEGAL DRUG ECSTASY LINKED TO BRAIN DAMAGE

LONDON People who use the illegal drug Ecstasy are putting themselves at
risk of developing brain damage, according to a new study.

Brain scans of 14 men and women who used the party drug show it damages the
nerves that release serotonin, the chemical believed to play a role in
mood, thought processes, eating and sleep, researchers at Johns Hopkins
University Medical School say.

The damage occurred even with infrequent use and at typical doses of one or
two tablets, but the more taken, the more severe the effects, according to
the study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet.

And although some of the participants had not taken the drug for several
years, their brain scans were not much better. None of the 14 had taken it
within three weeks before the tests, the researchers say.

Ecstasy, a hybrid of the hallucinogen mescaline and the stimulant
amphetamine chemically known as MDMA, has been shown in previous studies to
cause brain damage in animals at doses similar to those used by humans. In
humans, tests have shown reduced levels of a serotonin byproduct,
suggesting an indirect link between the drug and brain damage, the
researchers say.

"But this is the first time we've been able to examine the actual
serotonin-producing nerve cells directly in the brain," said Dr. George
Ricaurte, the neurologist who led the study.

It is difficult to measure how widely Ecstasy is used because it is
illegal. However, a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found a
four-fold increase between 1995 and 1996 in the number of Americans
reporting they use the drug, Ricaurte said.

Users report heightened communication skills, a sense of closeness with
others and increased emotional awareness.

In comparison with the 15 people studied who had never taken the drug,
Ecstasy users had fewer serotonin transporters proteins embedded in the
membranes of nerve endings that transmit nerve signals from one cell to
another. Those lower levels suggest the drug destroys the nerve endings in
the brain, Ricaurte said.

Ricaurte said scientists do not know how many transporters the human brain
can afford to lose before nerve-related psychiatric disorders such as
depression, anxiety, memory disturbance, sleep abnormalities or other
troubles start to occur.

Checked-by: Richard Lake