Ecstacy and long-term memory loss

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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A study (UK) suggests that you are more likely to suffer from memory loss (long-term) if you take the drug ecstacy.

Those who take the drug regularly are 23% more likely to report long-term memory loss problems (than those who do not take ecstasy).

Researchers say that it is even more worrying if the ecstasy user also takes cannabis. Researchers, from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK, north of England) said 'Users are facing a myriad of afflictions.'

They said these people (users of ecstasy and cannabis) would be facing a time bomb of cognitive problems later on in their lives.

The Newcastle upon Tyne scientists said cannabis was detrimental to our short-term memory (our ability to remember things that have happened recently).

The danger here, say the researchers, is that many young people still think ecstasy is relatively safe. This is despite media coverage of some high-profile deaths.

Although ecstasy can make users feel great, it can cause dreadful fluctuations in body temperature (and eventually, death).

'Users may think that ecstasy is fun and that it feels fairly harmless at the time,' said lead researcher Dr. Jacqui Rodgers. "However, our results show slight but measurable impairments to memory as a result of use, which is worrying.'

The survey monitored 763 participants as well as 81 people who had taken ecstasy at least 10 times.

A typical ecstasy user, they found, had a 14% lower short-term memory than a typical non-user (one who never took it). They also found that the typical user made 29% more mistake on the questionnaire they were given than the typical non-user.

'…ecstasy users who take cannabis are suffering from a 'double whammy' where both their long-term and short-term memory is being impaired,' said Dr. Jacqui Rogers.

Source: The Journal of Psychopharmacology

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