ecstasy
... white powder, and then snorted in. Those two ways are the most common, while ecstasy can be smoked or injected into your blood stream. Although the drug takers may experience positive changes in feelings and emotions, a high energy level and increasing confidence in the first few hours after taking ecstasy, there are harmful effects afterwards. According to the Southern Health Board, it states that the short term effects of taking ecstasy include having dilated pupils, jaw clenching and teeth grinding, sweating, and a rise in body temperature, heart rate and pulse and also resulted in confusion, hallucinations, perceptual disorders and panic attacks, depersonalization and de-realization as well as insomnia. At the same time, it also points out the long-term effects of ecstasy taking (1). Ecstasy can cause long-lasting, permanent damage to nerve endings in the brain that are critical processes for memory and thought. Because ecstasy is an amphetamine it impairs the function and long term productions of serotonin and a brain chemical playing a role in regulating mood memory, sleep and appetite, which is why people taking ecstasy experience loss of sleep, appetite and memory. Addiction is very serious effect that results from ecstasy. Because ecstasy is used to release a powerful mood it often results in severe addiction. Repeated use eventually leads to addiction, which leads to users more frequently using or trying new drugs. Ecstasy is very cheap to manufacture in Europe. It costs around 25 to 30 cents to manufacture an ecstasy tablet in Europe, while the same table can be sold up to 40 dollars in the United States. It does not always sell for 40 dollars but the usual market price is around 20 to 30 dollars. The price range of the tablet ranges depending on the dose of it. Usual dosage of a tablet ranges from 50 to 150 milligrams. Price also varies with location. In some towns in the United States you are able to find them for as low as ten dollars a tablet, while in other places it can range up to 40 dollars per tablet. The price of ecstasy is a main factor for its distribution. Because it can be made easily in backyard laboratories it is easily distributed at low prices. Since the drug is illegally made, there are no restrictions or regulations that manufacturers must follow. The reality of the matter is that manufacturers can put together any concoction of drugs they’d like, and you can never know. Dr. Selva, who is director of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine in the department of child health at the university in Colombia, MO put it well; "Adolescents need to know that taking Ecstasy is not like taking Tylenol, where you know that the only ingredient in the pill is Tylenol” (quoted in “Warn teens that ecstasy is often contaminated”). Most commonly MDMA (or MDA/MDE) is mixed into a pill form with methamphetamines, ketamine, caffeine, or even ephedrine. An allergic reaction to any ingredient in the pill can lead to death. It has become apparent over the years that there is more than one way ecstasy can induce death. As stated before ecstasy is a club or a rave drug. Under such conditions as a club or a rave, ecstasy users may become overheated, and dehydrated because the serotonin rush interfere with the bodies functions such as blood pressure and heart rate. If the user does not replace the fluids that his body loses this could cause hyperthermia resulting in death. Ironically enough, it is possible to die by drinking too much fluid while on ecstasy. The user usually thinks he can counter the dehydrating effect by drinking large amounts of liquids. In doing so he is actually diluting the amount of electrolytes in the blood system which regulates neural activity-in their systems. To fully understand the effects that ecstasy can have on the brain, you must have an understanding on its mechanics. MDMA stimulates neurons in your brain to release large amounts of neurotransmitters into the synapse: serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, as shown in illustrations 1 through 3. Serotonin is stored in the axon terminals vesicles, and is usually released when you are happy and in good mood. Thus, when an excessive amount is released, the feeling of a ‘utopia’ is created where you are ‘on the top of the world’. In contrast, taking too much ecstasy in one dose can deplete your serotonin levels, which take one to two weeks to replenish. This is what leads to depression when coming down and in the days following the use. Prolonged abuse of the drug can prevent your serotonin levels from fully replenishing; hence the onset of a constant depression. As Jeremy G. Blowers discovered in his study, “Overall MDMA users in the study reported a significantly higher number of depressive symptoms both 24 hours after, and two weeks after using ecstasy” (quoted in “3 , 4 - Methylenedioxy methamphetamine/ecstasy and symptoms of depression in the collegiate population”). This can lead to dependence along with the illusion that you are only ‘happy’ when you are on the drug. The neurotransmitters are stored in the cells axon terminal, until an electrical impulse tells the vesicles to release into the synapse. They are then received by the next cell’s dendrites, and bind to the cell’s ‘receptors’, as it is depicted in illustration 4. When enough serotonin has bound to the receptors, the cell body then decides to send an imp...