ECSTASY USERS 'RISK LASTING BRAIN DAMAGE'

TAKING just one or two ecstasy pills could cause long lasting brain damage
leading to depression, scientists warned last night.

A single experiment with the popular drug may leave a person vulnerable to
future mental problems, according to new evidence. Researchers urged people
to stay away from the drug, even though many regard it as harmless.

Psychologists from the London Metropolitan University found that
individuals who had tried ecstasy on only a few occasions had depression
levels four times higher than those who had taken a range of other drugs
but not ecstasy.

Lynn Taurah, who carried out the research with Dr Chris Chandler, said:
"People often think taking ecstasy just once or twice won't matter, but
what we're seeing is evidence that if you take it a couple of times you do
damage to your brain that later in life will make you more vulnerable.

"Many of these people are professionals, and you can imagine if they have a
problem or a bit of stress in their life their depression levels could go up."

The researchers presented their findings yesterday at the British
Psychological Society's annual conference in Bournemouth. They studied 519
volunteers, including some who were current or past ecstasy users and
others who had either never taken drugs or taken a number of drugs other
than ecstasy.

Participants were given a standard psychological questionnaire designed to
discover to what extent they suffered from depression. The results produced
scores which, once they passed the figure of 25, indicated that they were
clinically depressed.

Non-ecstasy users, including those taking other drugs, such as alcohol,
nicotine and cannabis, had average scores of about four. But the scores of
many who had only tried the drug once or twice, reached levels of 16 or 17.

For frequent users, score values of up to 28 were found which put them in
the category of clinically depressed.