What are the long-term consequences of MDMA (Ecstasy)?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse Acute doses of MDMA produce marked changes in both dopamine and serotonin systems within the brain. Though the changes in dopaminergic neurons appear transient, the data suggest that the changes in the serotonergic system are longer-lasting. In addition, examinations of more global brain function have shown that the effects of acute doses of MDMA extend to regions of the brain that are thought to be involved in higher thought processes. These findings have raised concern about possible long-term effects on both infrequent and regular users of MDMA. Because MDMA produces long-term deficits in serotonin function, and because serotonin function has been implicated in the etiology of many psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety, investigators have suspected that MDMA users may experience more psychopathology than non-users. Indeed, a number of investigators have found that heavy MDMA users experience a constellation of psychi
