Running Head: Ecstasy

Ecstasy; the Party Drug That Does Not Feel So Good

College students and party people love to go out on the town and feel good, but what they do not realize is that the very drug that makes everyone love each other is just a killer in disguise. Ecstasy popularly known as MDMA can cause great harm for just a fun dancing filled night. Ecstasy is becoming more and more popular to be used as a rave drug (Kalant, H. 2001). This means that people are using MDMA is a way that is uncontrolled and unsupervised; this can cause great damage to the brain and irreversible side effects. People do not realize how unsafe ecstasy can be to the body and brain especially. Ecstasy is an amphetamine derivative that also has some effects that resemble mescaline (Kalant, H. 2001). Due to this nature ecstasy users experience a high that creates an atmosphere that feels safe and loving when in reality the users are experiencing intense reactions to a fully synthetic drug. Ecstasy user experiences a “wakefulness, endurance and sense of energy, sexual arousal, and postponement of fatigue and sleepiness “and “the user feels a freeing sense of euphoria, well- being, sharpened sensory perception, greater sociability, extraversion, heightened sense of closeness to other people, and greater tolerance of their views and feelings” (Kalant, H. 2001). The drug MDMA has been known as the feel good drug for decades now. It can be bought in many different places by many different people. The drug is made more commercially to be made to look professional, but can be made by most anyone anywhere. The ecstasy pill is usually stamped. Stamping the pills makes the drug recognizable for brand or maker. The pill can be stamped with any symbol; some popular ones are with cartoon faces or little pictures of dolphins. Another common form of MDMA is in a powder form usually in a capsule. The drug is a very dangerous one and can seem like something safe and fun to take, but it carries massive consequences. Ecstasy’s most popular route of administration is orally. Due to this nature the digestive tract is intended site of absorption. Another route of admission is through the nose, the intended site of absorption in this case would be the nasal passage. The most common form of the drug is in pill or capsule form. The pill is swallowed and absorbed in to the blood stream through the digestive tract. Ecstasy metabolizes mainly in the liver by the enzymes that break down the specific chemicals of the drug (Kalant, H. 2001). Some of the consequences that ecstasy use has on just the body is to cause aches and pains, sweating, restless movement of the legs and tension in the body (Kalant, H. 2001). Ecstasy affects the body in such a way due to the nature of amphetamines, the increased arousal and alertness cause tension in the jaw and stiffness which leads to the aches and pains. Some users feel the effects for days afterwards due to the half life of ecstasy. The half life of ecstasy is “disappearance from the blood being of the order of eight hours” (Kalant, H. 2001). The short half life plays a big role in the after effects of ecstasy use. Some other side effects of ecstasy use are nausea, teeth grinding, sweating, and blurred vision. These side effects are just one part of what makes ecstasy so dangerous to the body. The role of ecstasy on the brain is stimulating the rewards center for a experience that is mood and body altering. MDMA acts on the brain by the net release of the monoamine neurotransmitters. This neurotransmitter connects to receptors that serotonin, noradrenalin, and to a smaller extent the dopamine receptors (Kalant, H. 2001). The neurotransmitter release from the respective axon terminals, the MDMA binds to the serotonin and thus blocking the reuptake as well. MDMA’s “ability to increase the concentration of serotonin in the synapse probably underlies its production of improved mood and of sensory alterations” (Kalant, H. 2001). The effect that MDMA has on the brain is instrumental in the ability to come down from the high. Even after abstinence of MDMA from the brain after long term use, the user will still experience side effects. MDMA long term users has reporting’s of abnormally low levels of serotonin and its metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid, reduced numbers of serotonin transporter molecules, increased numbers of glial cells, and altered patterned of glucose metabolism and blood flow in certain parts of the brain was low (Kalant, H. 2001). When such serotonin is released is such large quantities it creates a problem that gives rise to acute psychotic symptoms but also causes chemical damage to the cells the released it (Kalant, H. 2001). Some more effects that MDMA has on the brain after long term use is a variety of mental and behavioral problems. The problems that may arise after long term use are “impairment of memory, both verbal and visual, with the degree of impairment being roughly proportional to the intensity of the preceding of MDMA” (Kalant, H. 2001). MDMA not only acts on the brain by being lipped soluble but on the rest of the body as well. The effects of MDMA can be seen all throughout the body and brain. Another body part that MDMA heavily affects is the cardiovascular systom. Not only does ecstasy increase the amount of serotonin but the release of noradrenalin and dopamine. Both of these chemicals give response to the cardiovascular area but noradrenalin is responsible for most of the adverse effects (Kalant, H. 2001). The effects of MDMA on the cardiovascular system are hypertension with a risk of ruptured blood vessels and internal hemorrhage. The second most common risk of MDMA on the cardiovascular system is tachycardia; users can result with this symptom from the increased work that MDMA puts on the heart. MDMA is a drug that affects the whole body. Another consequence of using ecstasy at raves and such parties is the profuse sweating. The physical activity and the pharmacological effects of the drug on the thermoregulatory mechanism system make the drug very dangerous to use (Kalant, H. 2001). The large amounts of sodium lost due to sweating and the amount of water users feel like they need to drink the sodium is leeched from the body causing hemodilution and resulting in hyponatremia. Both of these symptoms lead to “passage of water from the blood into the tissues, including the brain. This had two serious consequences: initiation of epilepsy-like seizures and compression of the brain stem and cerebellum downward toward the foramen magnum, which can lead to neurological problems” (Kalant, H. 2001). The user at a rave unknowing enters a environment that becomes a hyperpyrexia pattern of toxicity. “The combination of the drug action, intense physical activity and a hot environment contribute to this increase. Even an increase of a few degrees in environment temperature causes marked increase in body temperatures and serotonin toxicity in the brain” (Kalant, H. 2001). The nature of raves and ecstasy use at raves cause life threatening situations that are a risk for any user. All toxicities can be a cause for death of the user. The deaths from ecstasy can be caused from large swings in depression especially to users that were already diagnosed with depression. These people fall into a perceived darkness that can result in suicide due to the extremely low levels of serotonin after use. The fluctuating of the levels in the brain also make it very hard for a person with depression to pull out of their mental disease. There have also been reports of users under the influence trying to perform very risky behavior due to the physiological effects of the drug on the brain (Kalant, H. 2001). The behavior of people who are sunjectively high have the feeling of being able to fly, so this person jumps out of a building hoping to fly and ends up dead. Automobile accidents are also a larger issue for MDMA user because of the effects on the brain while high. “The usual recreational dose of MDMA produces blood levels in the range of 100-250 ng/ml per liter. Most of the cases of serious toxicity or fatality have involved blood levels ranging from .5 mg/l to 10 mg/l” (Kalant, H.2001). The scary fact that is in some reports the blood level has been as low as .11-.55 mg/l, this indicated that the person can die from a usual recreational dose of MDMA. Ecstasy use has become more popular in the recent years. In a survey done by Tiffanie Sim at the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, found that out of 14,000 college students found that the use of ecstasy raised from 2.8% to 4.7% between 1997 and 1999. This increase is only becoming more and more prevalent. The study also found that students who used ecstasy in the past year were more likely to use marijuana, engage in binge drinking, smoke cigarettes, and have multiple sexual partners (Sim, T 2005). The study contained information on marijuana smokers that never used ecstasy and users who used both, the study found that there was an age difference of when the user may have started using drugs and the ecstasy user was more likely to start the addiction younger in life than just the marijuana user (Sim, T. 2005). The study also found a pattern in the behavior of binge drinking and peer tobacco use compared to the marijuana only group, the study also reported the fact that ecstasy users had a perception of peers using harder drugs than the group of marijuana users (Sim, T. 2005). This is another reason why ecstasy use is so harmful to the body. Ecstasy is viewed almost like a fun party drug that everyone should try, but in reality it cause just as much suffering as the drugs that are seen as more serious. MDMA is a drug with huge potential for addiction due to the blast to the rewards center while high, but most cases are not solely addicts of MDMA. MDMA users are likely not onlt users of MDMA, the drug is often times used with other drugs that are antagonist. Methamphetamine is a antagonist to MDMA because the effects of MDMA to the body mimic the effects of amphetamine derivatives. The MDMA is more of a gateway drug that smoothes the road to much harder drugs. The cases of users for ecstasy is in the form are “weekend warriors”. This is a scenario where the user may have a life during the week but once the user is on their own time use all weekend till it’s time to get back to life during the week. This typical kind of use is popular with MDMA users. So the risk for dependence psychologically to the drug is relatively low. The atmosphere and party life are also reasons why so many people gravitate towards the popular party drug (Sim, T. 2005). The rates of death tolls are a low reported amount in the United States due to the fact that the overdose is due to many different reasons, all throughout the body. The MDMA users will most likely die from problems with the cardiovascular system having to work to hard to keep up with the vasodilator ecstasy. In conclusion, the role that ecstasy plays on the population is one that correlates with the party atmosphere drawing in the younger free spirited people. College students and people in the younger generations have a steep path to follow to gain the knowledge of what ecstasy can do to the body and to help educate the people around them. The MDMA is such a dangerous fact to these people because they are under educated of the hidden dangers this drug packs with its moderate doses. The variety of different scenarios the user might find them in also creates a situation that the user can cause permanent damage to the body and brain. Hopefully with proper education and the current research the injuries due from ecstasy drug use will decline.

References

Kalant, H. (2001). The pharmacology and toxicology of “ecstasy” (MDMA) and related drugs.
Canadian Medical Association. Journal, 165(7), 917-28. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.clark.edu:12048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/204993369?accountid=1157

Sim, T., Jordan- Green, L., Lee, J., Wolfman, J., & Jahangiri, A. (2005). Psychosocial correlates of recreational ecstasy use among college students. Journal of American College Health, 54(1), 25-9. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.clark.edu:12048/login?