Recent Study Links XTC to Parkinsons
By Conor O'Rourke
Staff Writer

A recent study done by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and published last week in the scholarly journal Science has linked the usage of the drug ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetemine, or MDMA) to the debilitating nerve disease Parkinson’s.

The study’s author, Johns Hopkins professor of neurology George Ricuarte, claims to have found damage done to the nerves that transmit dopamine, in tests done on laboratory monkeys and baboons. Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder caused by damage done to the nerve cells that release dopamine. The most constant symptom is uncontrollable shaking which is caused by decreased levels of this dopamine, the neurotransmitter that regulates movement.

Generally, the effects of MDMA are associated with damage to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which, like dopamine, is responsible for controlling mood and emotional responses, as well as parts of the memory. Ricuarte’s study is the first to implicate MDMA as directly depleting dopamine.

Not surprisingly, Ricuarte’s claim has been met with much skepticism among the scientific community. It is criticized for the excessively large doses he administered to the monkeys and baboons. In addition, these were also done through injection rather than orally, which is how MDMA is administered. Consequently, these large amounts induced death in two of the ten test animals while leaving the remaining ones quite ill. In regards to these astounding results, critics ask why sickness is not seen very often in human users of MDMA.

The release of the study comes at an interesting time as Congress is currently reviewing the RAVE Act (Reducing American’s Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act). This bill is aimed at prohibiting an individual from knowingly opening, maintaining, managing, controlling, renting, leasing, making available for use, or profiting from any place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance.

Originally experimented with as an appetite suppressant in the 1930s, MDMA made a reemergence in the 1980s as a tool for marriage therapy. Many psychotherapists at the time believed the temporary state of warmth and insight that it induced would better facilitate a dialogue between dysfunctional spouses. With the recent explosion of the all-night dance party scene (known as raves), ecstasy has been held as the drug of choice for its combination of the energy and alertness characteristic of amphetamines with the lucidness and dreamlike nature of hallucinogens.

However it rapidly depletes the body of fluids and leads to severe dehydration. Coupled with high-energy physical activity of all-night dancing, the consequences have been as grave as death.

“There are negative consequences that can occur with the use of any drug. However, more often it’s lesser consequences with X,” says Ty Ramsower, M. Ed. of the Health Education Outreach Center. Among the consequences he goes on to mention are most commonly depression, and while MDMA has proven to be less physically addictive than cigarettes or alcohol, the potential of psychological addiction is a serious concern.

It has been described by many one-time and habitual users as the “greatest high one could imagine.” I spoke with one casual user at Pomona who wished to remain anonymous, on her decision to use ecstasy for the first time. “I enjoyed the thought of something that could bring on total mental and physical euphoria. And it did. I go to a rave and suddenly everyone seems to want to know me. All it does is make you feel on with people and want to become friends. It has its name for a reason.”

However, in a conversation with a former user the question came up as to why she stopped. “Eventually the lows were lower and the highs were just kind of mediocre. I felt more and more run down each time I was coming off it. I just didn’t want those false feeling anymore.”

A recent program on MTV documented a recovering ecstasy user’s medical treatment. A brain scan revealed her brain to contain large holes in it, “as if moth-ridden,” compared the doctor, where literally chunks of memory had been lost from. According to the doctor, the neural scan of this 22 year old was characteristic of a 60-70 year old that had suffered multiple strokes.

Only in 1985 did the DEA consider MDMA as a serious problem and added it to the Schedule 1 list (recognized as having no legitimate uses) of substances, which also includes heroin, LSD, and marijuana. Yet, the long-term effects of MDMA have not been sufficiently documented to make any solid conclusions regarding permanent effects on the brain. While it has shown significant damage to at least some serotonin producing nerve cells in laboratory animals, the evidence on humans is less clear-cut. And for at least as long as ecstasy remains a debate in Washington, arguments will continue to bounce back and forth between its risks.