Pubdate: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) Copyright: 2002 New Zealand Herald Contact: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300 Author: Andrew Laxon Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) SCIENTISTS REJECT ECSTASY CLAIMS Research which claims to prove Ecstasy damages the brain is flawed and misleading, says New Scientist magazine. In its issue published yesterday, the magazine says scans showing dark blotches in the brains of Ecstasy users have played a central role in public information campaigns and contributed greatly to belief in the dangers of the drug since 1998. Last year, the brain scans - supposedly showing damaged brain cells - featured in an official report that led to longer prison sentences for Ecstasy offenders in the United States. But independent scientists quoted by New Scientist say the brain scans used for the original study, published in The Lancet, were so imprecise that the results are highly suspect. Similar limitations applied to later research. The studies apparently showed that Ecstasy destroys nerve cells involved in the production and transportation of serotonin, a vital brain chemical involved in memory, sleep, sex, appetite and, primarily, mood. They used glowing radioactive tagging to highlight these nerve cells and found the brains of Ecstasy users shone less brightly than non-users. But the magazine says the way brains reacted to the scan varied enormously, regardless of Ecstasy use. Some drug-free brains glowed 40 times brighter than others and some Ecstasy brains were 10 times brighter or more than non-users' brains. It says the experiments' raw data has been obscured until now by the way the researchers analysed and presented their results, which have been criticised by other scientists. "There are no holes in the brains of Ecstasy users," said Stephen Kish, a neuropathologist at the Center for Addiction and Health in Toronto. "And if anyone wants a straightforward answer to whether Ecstasy causes any brain damage, it's impossible to get one from these papers." Marc Laruelle, a Columbia University expert on brain scanning probes, agreed: "All the papers have very significant scientific limitations that make me uneasy." New Scientist said the British and US Governments should stop using the studies to defend crackdowns on the drug. "Our inquiry does not prove Ecstasy is harmless, but it does raise serious questions about the quality of the evidence being used to inform drugs policies." The researchers, George Ricaurte and Una McCann, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, have defended their work. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh