MDMA 257
duces attention span and interferes with reasoning. The drug produces brain
injury suspected of increasing someone’s impulsiveness. In tests comparing
polydrug users who have used MDMA with those who have not, MDMA
users show increased impulsiveness correlating with how much they have
used the drug. Interviews comparing polydrug users find the MDMA group
more prone to paranoia, to physical complaints lacking any apparent bodily
cause, to nervousness and unfriendliness, to phobias, and to obsessing on
various things. Panic disorder with agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) can
occur.
MDMA has various influences on blood. The drug is suspected of causing
anemia. Under the influence of MDMA, blood components may block vessels,
having the effect of tiny clots that can cause internal bleeding, evidenced by
purple spots on the skin. Blood clots in the brain and death of cerebral tissue
have been credited to MDMA. Autopsies have shown massive blood clotting
throughout organs, accompanied by skeletal muscle deterioration.
Many other hazards exist. MDMA increases body temperature, sometimes
enough to mimic heat stroke, and animal experiments indicate that tempera-
tures in surroundings or inside the body can affect the amount of brain dam-
age caused by MDMA. The drug boosts pulse rate. Initially a dose increases
blood pressure (sometimes enough to burst vessels in the brain), but later, as
the effects of a dose proceed, blood pressure falls below the user’s original
reading (a decline that can promote fainting). MDMA can create heart mal-
function, kidney failure, and liver disease. Liver cirrhosis and failure can re-
sult—sometimes treatable, sometimes fatal. Cramps and muscle tics have been
observed, even including one case where Parkinson’s disease developed.
Cases are reported of MDMA causing pneumomediastinum, an ailment in-
volving severe breathing difficulty. The drug promotes nausea. Hazy eyesight
and a case of temporary double vision caused by MDMA have been reported.
Jaw clenching and grinding after taking the drug result in excessive tooth
wear; one study of teeth in MDMA users found enamel completely worn away
from some areas, an affliction seen far less often in people who did not use
the drug. MDMA can cause skin rash and pimples.
Gender difference in drug effect is possible. One survey of case reports
noted that men tended to use more MDMA than women did, and an exper-
iment found that at any given dose the drug seemed to harm verbal memory
more in men than in women. Another experiment showed male users having
more change in two measures of brain chemistry function than females did.
An experiment with rats showed males maintaining higher blood levels of the
drug than females did, while females experienced more increase in body tem-
perature than male rats did.
Abuse factors.In a survey of 100 American university students, two thirds
said that desirable actions declined and undesirable ones increased as MDMA
use continued; similar results came from a survey of 100 users in Australia,
and scientists studying the drug concur with those survey findings. As with
other potent stimulants, abusers are known to use MDMA in binges, taking
one dose after another before the previous ones wear off. Heavy MDMA users
have scored low in measures of harm avoidance, and MDMA use correlates
with unprotected male homosexual conduct. Such findings raise the question