Psychedelia.dk

Og de 59, der i mellemtiden havde taget ecstasy, havde tydelige forandringer i hjernen. I gennemsnit havde de taget seks ecstasy-piller i alt i de 18 måneder.

* Ecstasy påvirker centralnervesystemet og kvikker op, men stoffer har også en række bivirkninger.

Citat:
Og de 59, der i mellemtiden havde taget ecstasy, havde tydelige forandringer i hjernen. I gennemsnit havde de taget seks ecstasy-piller i alt i de 18 måneder.


Det er jo meget interessant, men man skal huske på, at det er en gennemsnitsværdi man får præsenteret.

- Det ville være interessant at se, hvordan de har testet de unge. Resultaterne kan meget vel holde vand, men det er nærliggende at tænke, at de efter de 18 måneder simpelthen har testet de to grupper af brugere og ikke-brugere og så sammenlignet deres scores - i stedet for at teste gruppen "før" og "efter" og så sammenligne grupperne internt. Altså: de kan have sammenlignet "festaber" og "dydsmønstre", hvilket forstyrrer stoffets egen effekt som forklarende variabel.

Nå men sig til, hvis I finder Maartjes artikel

Mon det ikke er denne artikel der henvises til?

Mon det ikke er denne artikel der henvises til?:

...
a 3.4% decrease in apparent diffusion (ADC) in the thalamus and a sustained decrease in relative regional cerebral blood volume (rrCBV) in the thalamus (-6.2%), dorsolateral frontal cortex (-4.0%), and superior parietal cortex (-3.0%) (all significant at p<0.05, paired t-tests). After correction for multiple comparisons, only the rrCBV decrease in the dorsolateral frontal cortex remained significant.
...
As no indications were found for structural neuronal damage with the currently used techniques, our data do not support the concern that incidental ecstasy use leads to extensive axonal damage. However, sustained decreases in rrCBV and ADC values may indicate that even low ecstasy doses can induce prolonged vasoconstriction in some brain areas, although it is not known whether this effect is permanent. Additional studies are needed to replicate these findings.

Du aner jo ikke, om det har noget med dit ecstasy-forbrug at gøre og kan ikke drage en sådan konklusion, som du gør.

Jeg har da også taget andre stoffer som amf, cola, LSD, svampe, råhypnoler og hash, men jeg er rimelig sikker på at det er X der har gjort det store udslag

What's NeXT? The mother of all Ecstasy studies begins to bear fruit (12/1/06)

Recently there has been a small rash of news stories to the effect of 'new research shows using ecstasy even once unsafe'. They are referring to some of the early results from the NeXT Study, a massive research project by the government of the Netherlands to track potential 'ecstasy' users over time, regularly and thoroughly poking and prodding them with everything from psych evaluations to sophisticated brain scans to see how 'ecstasy' affects them. This study, the first of its kind, is expected to provide comprehensive, 'final word' evidence on what sort of harm (if any) is occurring as a result of 'ecstasy' use.

The initial findings of the study (which focused on people who had only used 'ecstasy' once or a few times) are rather interesting:

1. Symptoms of depression declined by 28% after they had used 'ecstasy'; their mental health appeared to be better after use than before.

2. Every test to look for the sort of brain injury that has been seen in lab animals failed to find any sign of damage in the people who had used 'ecstasy'. In the words of the researchers themselves, "we found no indications for structural neuronal damage after a low dose of ecstasy use in first time ecstasy users."

3. There were small differences in blood flow in some parts of the brains of the people who had used 'ecstasy'; the largest difference was 3.5% in one small region.

Surely this is good news, yes? Not only did the (infrequent) 'ecstasy' users seem to be free of neurological injury, they were happier for the experience! But of course, that isn't how the pro-Prohibition press is spinning the story. Instead, they've clung to that last point, the small changes in blood flow in a few small areas of the brain, as proof that even a single use of MDMA ('ecstasy') causes brain damage.

The researchers themselves have repeatedly said that the changes could simply be due to MDMA's disruptive effect on the serotonin system (which strongly affects blood flow/blood vessel constriction.) Indeed, past studies have also found changes in blood flow within the brain after MDMA use, but that the changes were only temporary. This is consistent with findings that, after exposure to MDMA, the number of available serotonin receptors temporarily declines.

In the end, this early report seems to confirm, rather than overturn, my long-standing position that MDMA use has a temporary disruptive effect on the brain, but (at least in moderation) is not causing the sort of brain injury that was invoked as a justification for criminalizing it.

Furthermore, the only publicly available data from these studies concerning memory in ecstasy users refutes claims of memory impairment in ecstasy users. Hence the news coverage, and even the researchers themselves, misrepresent what the researchers actually found; little to no indication that a few doses of ecstasy harm the brain.