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| |  AAP: Epidemic of Ecstasy Use Affects Cognition and Memory By Alison Palkhivala Special to DG News SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- October 25, 2001 -- The club drug ecstasy is becoming so popular among North American teens that its abuse should be considered an epidemic, according to a substance abuse expert. Increasingly, research is revealing its long-term effects of cognitive ability. Ecstasy, or 3,4 methylene dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a unique drug that is chemically similar to both the stimulant amphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline, according to Dr. Peter Rogers, MD, MPH of the adolescent health section at Columbus Children’s Hospital in Ohio, United States. He discussed the frightening effect that this club drug is having on North American youth here this week at the National Conference and Exhibition of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). According to Dr. Rogers, "I’ve been working with children and substance abuse since 1985, and nothing scares me like ecstasy because it’s got this reputation as being such a safe drug, and it’s not. … More and more research is showing that it has serious long-term effects on cognition and memory." Dr. Rogers says the MDMA problem among North American youth is so bad that it should be considered a serious medical epidemic. Some of the most recent research on the effects of ecstasy on the brain was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (vol. 58, Oct 2001, 901-906). This study was led by Liesbeth Reneman, MD, from the graduate school of neurosciences and department of nuclear medicine at the Academic Medical Center in the Netherlands. For their research, 22 recent MDMA users, 16 former users who had quit for more than a year, and 13 controls were studied by means of single-photon emission CT with iodine 123-labeled 2b-carbomethoxy-3b-(4-iodophenyl) tropane ([123I] b-CIT). Their verbal memory was also tested using the Auditory Verbal Learning Test. [123I] b-CIT studies revealed that 5-HT tranporter density was significantly lower among recent MDMA users compared to controls. Also, both recent and former MDMA users recalled significantly fewer words on both immediate and delayed recall tests than did controls. Greater use of MDMA was associated with greater immediate recall deficits. Memory was not related to 5-HT tranporter density findings. According to Dr. Rogers, pediatricians are in a position to identify youths who are abusing drugs like MDMA. The hallmarks of such abuse, he said, include recent negative changes in school performance, social withdrawal, and/or changes in social groups. He said the best way to find out what is happening with these children is to talk to them directly about their lives, their problems, and their drug use.
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