Search

Ecstasy has become one of the most widely used illicit drugs in Australia. This study investigated outcome expectancies as possible motivating and maintaining factors in ecstasy use and sexual risk-taking behaviour. A sample of regular ecstasy users ( N = 220) from Sydney and Canberra, Australia, was recruited for structured face-to-face interviews. They also completed an Ecstasy Expectancy Questionnaire. Seven of eight subscales significantly differentiated regular users from non-users. Interestingly, light and heavier users held similar outcome expectancies, except that light users endorsed items on the sexual enhancement subscale more strongly than heavier users. Further investigation showed that the level of sexual risk taking observed in this sample was high, with the majority of participants reporting multiple partners, 'casual' sexual encounters, sex under the influence of substances, and inconsistent condom use. Using logistic regression analyses, a key finding was that positive sex-related ecstasy outcome expectancies were associated with involvement in disinhibited sexual behaviour under the influence of ecstasy. These effects persisted after statistically controlling for the frequency of ecstasy use. The findings suggest that sexual risk taking is related not only to the disinhibiting properties of ecstasy but also to beliefs that users hold about the effects of the drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite animal evidence that methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) causes lasting damage in brain regions related to long-term memory, results regarding human memory performance have been variable. This variability may reflect the cognitive complexity of the memory tasks. However, previous studies have tested only a limited range of cognitive complexity. Furthermore, comparisons across different studies are made difficult by regional variations in ecstasy composition and patterns of use. The objective of this study is to evaluate ecstasy-related deficits in human verbal memory over a wide range of cognitive complexity using subjects drawn from a single geographical population. Ecstasy users were compared to non-drug using controls on verbal tasks with low cognitive complexity (stem completion), moderate cognitive complexity (stem-cued recall and word list learning) and high cognitive complexity (California Verbal Learning Test, Verbal Paired Associates and a novel Verbal Triplet Associates test). Where significant differences were found, both groups were also compared to cannabis users. More cognitively complex memory tasks were associated with clearer ecstasy-related deficits than low complexity tasks. In the most cognitively demanding task, ecstasy-related deficits remained even after multiple learning opportunities, whereas the performance of cannabis users approached that of non-drug using controls. Ecstasy users also had weaker deliberate strategy use than both non-drug and cannabis controls. Results were consistent with the proposal that ecstasy-related memory deficits are more reliable on tasks with greater cognitive complexity. This could arise either because such tasks require a greater contribution from the frontal lobe or because they require greater interaction between multiple brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study provides the first evidence of the long-term consequences of ecstasy use on visual processes thought to reflect serotonergic functions in the occipital lobe. Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (“ecstasy”) is known to cause lasting changes to the serotonin system in animals, and convergent evidence suggests that similar changes occur in human ecstasy users. Other research suggests that serotonin may be involved in lateral inhibition between orientation sensitive neurons in the occipital lobe, and that disruption to the serotonin system causes an increase in the magnitude of the tilt aftereffect illusion that is known depend on those neurons. The aim of the present study was to determine if ecstasy users have detectable changes in occipital lobe behavioural functioning, as revealed by the tilt aftereffect illusion. Thirty ecstasy users and 34 non-drug using controls were compared on the magnitude of the tilt aftereffect illusion following adaptation to stimuli oriented at 15 and 40° from vertical. Ecstasy users who had not used amphetamines for 115 days or more had a larger average tilt aftereffect than non-drug using controls after adaptation to 40° stimuli but not after adaptation to 15° stimuli. Additionally, there was no difference between non-drug using controls and ecstasy users who had used amphetamines within the last 61 days at either adaptation angle. The results were consistent with the proposal that ecstasy-related damage to the serotonin system causes behavioural changes on tests of visual perception processes that are thought to reflect serotonergic functions in the occipital lobe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]