ECSTASY (MDMA) EFFECTS UPON MOOD AND COGNITION - BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER A SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE

Three groups of young people (aged 19-30 years) were compared: 15 regu lar ecstasy users who had taken MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamin e) on tell or more occasions; 15 novice ecstasy users who had taken MD MA on fewer than ten previous occasions; and 15 controls who had never taken MDMA. Each subject completed a cognitive test and mood scale ba ttery four times: an initial drug-free baseline, at a Saturday night d ance/club (on-drug), then 2 days later, and 7 days later. On the Satur day night, regular ecstasy users took an average of 1.80 MDMA tablets, novice users took 1.45 MDMA tablets, while controls mostly drank alco hol. The consumption of cannabis and cocaine at the club was similar a cross groups. All three groups reported positive moods at the dance cl ub (on-drug), although there were borderline trends (P < 0.10) for les s sadness/depression in the MDMA subgroups. However 2 days afterwards, the ecstasy users felt significantly more depressed, abnormal, unsoci able, unpleasant, and less good tempered, than the controls. Cognitive performance on both tasks (verbal recall, visual scanning) was signif icantly reduced on-MDMA. Memory recall was also significantly impaired in drug-free MDMA users, with regular ecstasy users displaying the wo rst memory scores at every test session. This agrees with previous fin dings of memory impairments in drug-free ecstasy users. Animal data ha ve shown that MDMA can generate long-term serotonergic neurodegenerati on in various brain areas, including the hippocampus. The cognitive de ficits in drug-free recreational ecstasy users, suggest that MDMA may also be neurotoxic in humans.