The brain on ecstasy
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Researchers who've looked at brain images of ecstasy users say the damage done by the illegal drug might not go away.
Ronald Cowan of Vanderbilt University compared people who had used the drug - although not in the past two weeks - to those who had never used it. He found increased activation of certain brain areas in ecstasy users. That's not good, because it means the brain is having to work harder to think.
Cowan also says the changes did not return to normal among people who had been off ecstasy at least a year.
``Our concern is that people who take ecstasy recreationally may be causing permanent brain damage, and this may increase with increasing use of the drug.'' (7 seconds)
The study in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.