What Side Effects Are Produced by Ecstasy?
Ecstasy’s effects can last up to 24 hours. The drug produces immediate side effects, and some-such as confusion, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, and paranoia-can occur weeks after it is taken (NIDA, Community Drug Alert Bulletin on Club Drugs, 2000). Because Ecstasy alters serotonin levels in the brain, researchers have found that chronic use can lead to long-term or permanent damage to those parts of the brain critical to thought, memory, and pleasure (NIDA, Facts About MDMA, 2000). Psychological Effects Psychological effects are confusion, depression, sleep problems, severe anxiety and paranoia, euphoria, enhanced mental and emotional clarity, hallucinations, sensations of lightness and floating, depression, paranoid thinking, and violent, irrational behavior. Physical Effects Physical effects are muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, chills/sweating, dehydration, hypertension, loss of control over voluntary body movements, tremors, redu
