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ECSTASY LINKED TO BRAIN DAMAGE

Author: MX News
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
The party drug ecstasy has been linked to long-term brain damage in humans.

Previously linked to brain damage in tests on animals, University of Adelaide researchers have found it has the same effect on humans.

Dr Rod Irvine of the University's Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Department said today that ecstasy, even when taken just a few times, could cause severe damage to brain cells.

It also had the potential to cause memory loss or psychological problems.

Irvine said 7% of 17-year-olds were reported to be using ecstasy.

"If our suspicions are proved correct, it will mean many of our young people will have memory loss or psychological problems in the future," he said.

The research also found that a spate of deaths associated with ecstasy in Adelaide in the mid-1990s was caused by a different strain of the drug.

Irvine said the main ingredient of "normal" ecstasy was the pharmacological ingredient known as MDMA.

The Adelaide strain, on the other hand, often contained the more potent chemical PMA.

"PMA hasn't been around since the early 1970s when it was responsible for the deaths of several people in Ontario, Canada, and now it's reappeared here in Adelaide," Irvine said.

"We don't know where the PMA came from but we do know that it has been prevalent in Adelaide since the mid-1990s."

MX News, Monday 4th March 2002

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