ECSTASY USE DULLS MEMORY

TORONTO (CP) - Long-term use of the popular club drug ecstasy damages
"everyday" memory, a pair of Toronto researchers reported.

The study is the first to follow a group of ecstasy users over time and it
shows an erosion in their episodic and prospective memory after a year,
said co-author Konstantine Zakzanis, a professor of neuroscience and
psychology at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus.

More Use Leads To More Problems

Episodic memory comes into play when, for instance, you try to recall an
item from a newscast viewed earlier in the day or relay a story you have
recently heard. Prospective memory is the recall you use when you need to
remember to do a task, such as set your alarm clock.

"We don't know whether or not there are any consequences of using it just a
few times. But we do know from our study that the more one uses it, the
greater probability that you will have some problems in terms of memory,"
Zakzanis said.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence that ecstasy, which has been
blamed for deaths in Canada, takes a neurological toll on users. It was
published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of
Neurology.

Ecstasy is the street name for methylenedioxymethamphetamine - also known
as MDMA - which providers users with a long lasting euphoric high by
stimulating brain activity.

"You could almost think of it as a Prozac multiplied by 100," he said,
referring to the popular anti-depressant.

Late last month two British researchers reported at a meeting of the
British Psychological Society that ecstasy use may be linked to damage in
the areas of the brain that deal with planning and remembering daily
activities.

And last summer, a Scottish researcher reported that ecstasy could damage
users's body clocks, making them feel permanently jet-lagged.

Zakzanis and his colleague, Donald Young of the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health in Toronto, recruited 15 frequent ecstasy users for their
study. The participants - ranging in age from 17 to 31 - were
predominantly (80 per cent) male. On average, they took ecstasy 2.4 times a
month, though some took as many as eight hits a month.

"There was sort of a threshold," Zakzanis said.

Half The Participants Quit Using

People who use ecstasy often experience sleep deprivation, which can affect
cognitive performance. One of the reasons the researchers asked subjects to
cleanse their systems of drugs was to ensure they had at least seven nights
of adequate sleep before they performed the tests.

About half the participants were so disturbed by the findings that they
swore off ecstasy, Zakzanis said.