Fed: Ecstasy study shows long-term memory loss

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2001
Fed: Ecstasy study shows long-term memory loss

By Denis Peters

CANBERRA, Dec 14 AAP - Young people planning to include the drug ecstasy in their festive
season celebrations received a warning today - it causes memory loss lasting years.

Two studies conducted by the Australian National University (ANU) found ecstasy-users
had trouble actually putting material into their memories and that even two years later,
they still had memory difficulties.

The recreational drug, also known by its chemical name MDMA, is typically associated
with dance clubs and rave parties.

Dr Jeff Ward, the senior lecturer at the ANU's school of psychology, said there was
evidence that people who took ecstasy had alterations to the seratonin system in the brain.

"In simple terms, this means the nerve fibres projecting from the back of the brain
right throughout the cortex and other areas below the cortex in the brain have been depleted
in some way," he told reporters.

Dr Ward's studies looked at the nature of memory impairment, which had shown up in
other studies, and if it persisted.

The first study compared 30 current ecstasy users, who had not used the drug for two
weeks so the residual effects had worn off, with a control group of non-users.

"We found Australian ecstasy users show reductions in their performance in memory tests
compared to non-users, just as has been found in Europe and the USA," he said.

"We also were able to show that this memory impairment was due to a learning difficulty.

"What we showed was that the problem is actually getting the material in there.

"We showed that if people were actually given enough time to learn material, they could
perform as well as non-ecstasy users."

The second study also compared 30 ecstasy users to 30 non-users and used the same tests
and questionnaires, except the users had not used the drug for two years.

"What we found was that, after two years, indeed these people's memory was still impaired,"

Dr Ward said.

"I'm not saying these people would have the memory impairment of the level you would
see in brain-damaged patients or in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

"They performed less well on memory tests than non-users do, but they're not in a clinical
case range.

"We don't know what the implications are for their daily lives."

Dr Ward said the next step was to study and ask ecstasy users if they were having problems
with their daily tasks.

AAP dep/daw/las/sb

KEYWORD: ECSTASY

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.