Ecstasy Ecstasy, also known as MDMA (Methylene Dioxy Methamphetamine), is a synthetic drug that was recently made illegal in all countries of the world in 1985. It is a drug chemically similar to the drug methamphetamine and causes hallucinations, increased energy, and euphoria. Before making it illegal, it was used by psychiatrists as a therapeutic tool. MDMA is one of the most addicting drugs and can cause short and long term effects. It affects the neurons that transport serotonin in between each adjacent neuron. The serotonin system is what helps regulate your emotions. For instance, it affects your mood, aggression, sexual activity, sleep, and sensitivity to pain. MDMA causes the serotonin signals to increase more than usual and causes the heart rate to increase.
Some short term effects MDMA can cause are confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, increase in blood pressure, and even death. It is even capable of causing hyperthermia if taken in high doses. Many users of this drug get dizzy and are given false confidence which can lead you to do things you aren’t capable of or taking big risks. Some people take it because according to them, it helps them relax. Other users take it as pain relievers and to help with anxiety.
Some long term effects from taking ecstasy are brain damage, liver damage, heart damage, and more. Studies have shown that ecstasy does in fact, poison the brain. An experiment performed by Dr. George Ricaurte, an associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University, analyzed brain scans of people who had used ecstasy. The study included people who had used ecstasy an average of 200 times over five years. Although they seemed to have normal behavior, brain scans showed that ecstasy in fact does cause memory loss. Some studies have even shown that MDMA causes permanent damage to the serotonin system. When compared to non-users of the drug, the MDMA users had memory scores that were a lot lower.
Not only can MDMA cause memory loss, but it can cause you to become dehydrated. In some cases it can cause liver and heart disease due to dehydration. It causes rotting of the liver and heart which can be lethal to your health. For example, a victim in the UK had taken a few ecstasy pills and suffered severe swelling of the brain tissue as a result of having drunk 14 liters of water in an attempt to quench his thirst. Ecstasy is also related/ similar to the effects of methamphetamine which can cause damage to the