Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jun 2007
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Reuters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECSTASY DRUG USE LINKED TO MEMORY LOSS

People taking the rave drug Ecstasy show subtle but significant 
changes in verbal memory after trying the drug for the first few 
times, Dutch researchers said.

New users of the drug, which is popular at dance clubs, who had taken 
a relatively low cumulative dose of about three tablets of Ecstasy 
scored lower on tests that required them to memorize a series of 
words and then recall them later. A casual observer wouldn't notice 
this degree of memory impairment, which also would be no handicap to 
a person, but it's possible it could increase future risk of dementia 
or memory problems, said Dr. Thelma Schilt of the Academic Medical 
Center of the University of Amsterdam.

"We also don't know what happens when the brain gets older," she added.

A number of studies have linked Ecstasy with impaired verbal memory, 
but most research has been done in heavy users of the drug, according 
to the researchers who reported the findings in the Archives of 
General Psychiatry.

To better understand the effects of lower doses, the researchers 
enrolled 188 people, average age 22, who said they had never used the 
drug but were considering trying. About three years later they 
compared 58 people who had started using Ecstasy to a matched group 
of 60 individuals who had not tried the drug.

Those who hadn't used Ecstasy showed improvements in verbal recall 
over time in a series of five trials of their ability to memorize 15 
words. Verbal recall for Ecstasy users didn't improve over the course 
of the trials, and worsened over time.

"They missed the retest effect that is normal and that we could see 
in controls," Schilt explained. The users had taken an average of 3.2 
tablets in total since they began using Ecstasy, while most had used 
a cumulative dose of 1.5 tablets.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman