Pubdate: Fri, 27 Sep 2002
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Note: Last three paragraphs suggest possible connection between this 
research and Congress Anti-Rave Bill

STUDY IN PRIMATES SHOWS BRAIN DAMAGE FROM DOSES OF ECSTASY

The amount of the drug Ecstasy that some recreational users take in a 
single night may cause permanent brain damage and lead to symptoms like 
those of Parkinson's disease, a study in primates has found.

But critics say that the monkeys and baboons in the study were given huge 
overdoses of the drug and that the kind of damage the researchers found has 
never been found in autopsies or brain scans of humans who took large amounts.

Dr. George A. Ricaurte of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 
who led the study, said its most disturbing finding was that just two or 
three Ecstasy tablets can damage the cells that produce dopamine, a brain 
chemical that helps control movement, emotions and the ability to feel 
pleasure.

To mimic the aging process, he gave some primates another drug that 
destroys dopamine production, and found that those that had taken both 
Ecstasy and the dopamine-killing drug moved less than those given only the 
dopamine reducer, suggesting that Ecstasy users could suffer the same 
consequences as they aged. The study appears today in the journal Science.

But a psychiatrist from Bellevue Hospital in New York and the leader of an 
organization that wants to test the psychiatric benefits of Ecstasy said 
Dr. Ricaurte's doses - delivered by injection, not tablet - were far 
greater than a human user could stand. Two of the 10 monkeys and baboons 
died of heatstroke, they noted, and 2 more were in such distress that they 
were not given a third shot.

Though heatstroke and dehydration are problems at dances where Ecstasy is 
used, human deaths from the drug are relatively rare. If 20 percent of all 
users died, these critics said, it would not be as popular as it is.

Three shots in six hours "was like 10 tablets in six hours, and the bulk of 
Ecstasy users at raves take 1.5 to 2.5 doses a night," said the Bellevue 
psychiatrist, Dr. Julie Holland, who is the editor of a book on Ecstasy. 
"Also, that's about $250 to $300 worth at street prices, and that's a lot 
of money.'

Dr. Una D. McCann, a psychiatrist and an author of the new study along with 
her husband, Dr. Ricaurte, said the doses were "actually slightly less" 
than a human might take. "I can't explain" why the two animals died, she 
said, "but if you're doing studies with only four or five animals, it's not 
appropriate to draw conclusions like 'one out of five will die.' "

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a methamphetamine whose users describe an 
overwhelming sense of peace and friendship for others, as well as the 
energy to dance for hours. Chronic users report never being able to repeat 
the pleasure of their first highs, and the drug apparently depletes the 
brain's reserves of dopamine and serotonin, which communicate pleasurable 
feelings.

Dr. Ricaurte has done research on the dangers of Ecstasy for years. In 1995 
he found that it caused the brains of rats and squirrel monkeys to form 
abnormal connections in the serotonin-producing pathway. That, he 
theorized, could lead to problems like chronic depression.

Some of the same critics, including Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary 
Association for Psychedelic Studies, who has long sought government 
approval to test Ecstasy's usefulness for post-traumatic stress disorder, 
argued then that Dr. Ricaurte's test doses were 45 times what humans 
normally take.

In 1998, Dr. Ricaurte's review of brain scans of 14 humans who had taken 
Ecstasy up to 400 times found that they had fewer serotonin-absorbing brain 
cells than nonusers.

His new study "sends an important public health message - don't experiment 
with your own brain," said Alan I. Leshner, a former director of the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse and a supporter of Dr. Ricaurte's work. 
Dr. Leshner is now chief executive of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, which publishes Science magazine, but took pains to 
say he "had nothing to do with the decision to publish the study."

The study was important, he said, because it found similar results in two 
species and showed that Ecstasy could damage two different brain pathways.

Dr. Leshner was reluctant to endorse a warning that one-night Ecstasy users 
could suffer parkinsonism in later life. "I don't like hyperbole," he said, 
"whether it's in the direction that this drug is safe or that it's not."

Ecstasy, which was invented 80 years ago, was used as a stimulant and in 
some psychiatric research until 1985, when it was put in the same legal 
category as heroin and cocaine. A measure before Congress called the 
Anti-Rave Act seeks to penalize promoters of parties where "club drugs" are 
used, just as law enforcement officials sought to penalize landlords whose 
buildings were used as crack houses.

Critics said the study was timed to influence the Congressional debate, but 
Dr. McCann denied it. "We had no political intentions," she said.

Mr. Doblin, who has been seeking Food and Drug Administration permission 
since 1985 for legal psychiatric testing, said that similar drugs, like the 
amphetamines given to schoolchildren for attention deficit disorder, also 
affected dopamine levels but showed no evidence that they lead to the 
tremors or rigidity of Parkinson's disease.
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MAP posted-by: Beth