Drugs - Ecstasy (MDMA)

By Jerry Price - Mar 13, 2006 -

“MDMA is a stimulant whose psychedelic effects can last between 4 and 6 hours, and it is usually taken orally in pill form. The psychological effects of MDMA include confusion, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, drug craving, and paranoia. Adverse physical effects include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, feeling faint, tremors, rapid eye movement, and sweating or chills. Because of MDMA’s ability to increase heart rate and blood pressure, an extra risk is involved with MDMA ingestion for people with circulatory problems or heart disease.

“Rave party attendees who ingest MDMA are at risk of dehydration, hyperthermia, and heart or kidney failure. These risks are due to a combination of the drug’s stimulant effect, which allows the user to dance for long periods of time, and the hot, crowded atmosphere of rave parties. The combination of crowded all-night dance parties and MDMA use has been reported to cause fatalities.

“Research shows that MDMA causes damage to the parts of the brain that are critical to thought and memory. MDMA increases the activity levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The drug causes the release of the neurotransmitters from their storage sites, which increases brain activity. By releasing large amounts of the neurotransmitters and also interfering with neurotransmitter synthesis, MDMA causes a significant depletion in the neurotransmitters. It takes the brain a significant length of time to rebuild the amount of serotonin and other neurotransmitters needed to perform important functions.

“In addition to the dangers associated with MDMA itself, users are also at risk of being given a substitute drug. For example, PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine) is an illicit, synthetic hallucinogen that has stimulant effects similar to MDMA. However, when users take PMA believing they are ingesting MDMA, they often think they have taken weak Ecstasy because PMA’s effects take longer to appear. They then ingest more of the substance to attain a better high, which can result in death by overdose.”

Fact Sheet: MDMA (Office of National Drug Control Policy) [Accessed November 8, 2004]

  • According to SAMHSA’s 2003 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, about 2.1 million persons aged 12 or older (0.9 percent) reported using Ecstasy at least once in the past year.
  • Almost all (97.5 percent) of the persons age 12 or older who used Ecstasy in the past year also reported past year use of alcohol compared with 65.2 percent of those who had not used Ecstasy in the past year.
  • Over 90 percent of past year Ecstasy users reported also using other types of illicit drugs in the past year compared with 13.8 percent of the those who did not use Ecstasy in the past year.
  • About 22.8 percent of the past year Ecstasy users used one other illicit drug, 50.3 percent used two to four other illicit drugs, and 17.9 percent used five or more illicit drugs during the past year.

Substance Abuse Among Past Year Ecstasy Users (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) [Accessed November 1, 2005] Note: results from 2003

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