Twelve heavy recreational ecstasy drug users (30-1000 occasions), 16 light ecstasy users (1-20 occasions) and 22 non ecstasy user controls, with group mean ages around 21 years, were compared. Three self-rating questionnaires were completed when drug-free: the SCL-90 (an outpatient psychiatric symptom checklist), the impulsiveness venturesomeness and empathy (IVE) scale; and the uplifts, hassle...

OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND Ecstasy/polydrug users have exhibited deficits in executive functioning in laboratory tests. We sought to extend these findings by investigating the extent to which ecstasy/polydrug users manifest executive deficits in everyday life. METHODS Forty-two current ecstasy/polydrug users, 18 previous (abstinent for at least 6 months) ecstasy/polydrug users, and 50 non-users of...

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (mdma) or ecstasy, has had a widely spread popularity among young adults in recent years. kidney toxicity is one of the consequences of ecstasy. the studies have shown that ecstasy is metabolized by cytochrome p450 to reactive electrophil metabolites which detoxify by glutathione (gsh) conjugation. to our knowledge in vivo study of the effect of glutathione on ...

BACKGROUND While the health risks of using ecstasy warrant intervention development, a recent meta-analysis of determinants of ecstasy use identified a number of lacunae in the literature. Specifically, no studies were included that address behaviours other than 'using ecstasy' (e.g. 'trying out ecstasy' or 'ceasing ecstasy use'). However, because meta-analyses aim to integrate study results qu...

OBJECTIVE Ecstasy users report a number of complaints after its use including disturbed sleep. However, little is known regarding which attributes of ecstasy use are associated with sleep disturbances, which domains of sleep are affected or which factors may predict those ecstasy users likely to have poor sleep quality and/or excessive daytime sleepiness. METHODS This study examined questionn...

Ecstasy/MDMA use has been associated with various memory deficits. This study assessed declarative and procedural memory in ecstasy/MDMA users. Participants were tested in two sessions, 24 h apart, so that the memory consolidation function of sleep on both types of memory could also be assessed. Groups were: drug-naive controls (n1⁄4 24); recent ecstasy/MDMA users, who had taken ecstasy/MDMA 2–...

Previous data have suggested that ecstasy use may affect cognitive functions. The relationship between ecstasy use and emotion recognition remains largely unknown. This study reports the findings on the neuropsychological effects of ecstasy use on recognition of basic human emotions among 100 abstinent ecstasy users, along with 100 demographically matched nonusers. Recognition of both facial an...

BACKGROUND Ecstasy is a widely used psychoactive drug that users often take because they experience positive effects such as increased euphoria, sociability, elevated mood, and heightened sensations. Ecstasy use is not harmless and several immediate and long term side effects have been identified. Lifetime ecstasy use is likely to be partly influenced by genetic factors, but no twin study has d...

OBJECTIVES The goals of this study were to measure the neurocognitive performance of recent users of recreational Ecstasy and investigate whether it was associated with the stress hormone cortisol. METHODS The 101 participants included 27 recent light users of Ecstasy (one to four times in the last 3 months), 23 recent heavier Ecstasy users (five or more times) and 51 non-users. Rivermead par...