Ecstasy: Not Worth Your Mood, Your Memories, Or Your Life
Ecstasy produces intensely pleasurable effects – including an enhanced sense of self-confidence and energy. Effects include feelings of peacefulness, acceptance and empathy. Users say they experience feelings of closeness with others and a desire to touch others. (DrugFree.org)
Sounds seductive, doesn’t it?
I remember when ecstasy first started hitting the streets in my area. And I mean, really hitting the streets. As in, ecstasy use was running rampant through my campus, I knew people who did it, and I knew people who sold it. I also remember when stories about people dying from ecstasy started hitting the news (ecstasy screws with your blood pressure and heart rate, and can lead to hypothermia and dehydration), and I once watched a documentary (it may have been on MTV, who knows) about a girl who seemed to be permanently depressed after using ecstasy (ecstasy also screws with your serotonin - hello! - not good).
I also remember hearing about how ecstasy can mess with your memory. That one didn’t stick with me as much as the information about serotonin, because, well, every kind of druggy substance messes with memory, right?
But now, I’ve read that using ecstasy just once can affect memory. At the University of Hertfordshire’s Health and Human Sciences Research Institute Showcase yesterday, Professors Keith Laws and Fabrizio Schifano were supposed to discuss how ecstasy affects both short-term and long-term memory and that the number of times a person uses it is “largely irrelevant.”
And that’s a horse pill of a different color.
Anyway, I went to the University of Hertfordshire’s website and found some information about the presentation. Basically all I found was an announcement about it.
If you know anything about the presentation, or are someone who has experience with the mental side effects of ecstasy, feel free to chime in.
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about ecstasy, and it’s physical and mental side effects, check out:
- MDMA (Ecstasy) from the National Institute of Health’s InfoFacts
- Ecstasy.org
- Ecstasy Drug Info from TheAntiDrug.com
POSTED IN: Resources
1 opinion for Ecstasy: Not Worth Your Mood, Your Memories, Or Your Life
Sarah
Oct 22, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I had the opportunity to try ecstasy one time but opted to be the baby sitter for the people who were on it. After learning more about it, I’m so thankful I had the wherewithal NOT to do it.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: