r that lost serotonin function in your brain—it is gone forever” (Mackeen 4). Dr. George Ricaurte, a neurotoxicologist at John Hopkins University, conducted an experiment to determine the effects of MDMA on the brains of squirrel monkeys. He found that neural damage occurred when he gave them a dose only slightly higher than what would be taken by a normal, recreational user. Twelve to eighteen months after the study was conducted, tests were done to determine whether or not the squirrel’s brains had returned to normal. It was found that “serotonin-producing brain cells had regrown excessively in some brain regions and had failed to grow at all in other regions. As a result, serotonin was being overproduced in some regions, specifically those for sleep and appetite, and underproduced in areas involved in memory and learning” (New 2). This damage was still evident 7 years after the study ended. Ricaurte later did research to determine whether the results of this study would correlate to human ecstasy users, and discovered that not only were the serotonin-producing cells of human users damaged, but that these changes were accompanied by a diminished mental capacity. In an experiment on memory given to both regular users and non-users, it was found that “the ecstasy users performed worse on the tests, and the more ecstasy a person had used, the lower his performance” (New 2). The demonstrated neurotoxic effects of MDMA on the serotonin system have been shown to cause a variety of mental and psychological problems that outlast the drug experience by months or years (Kalant 3). “People who take MDMA, even just a few times, are risking long term, perhaps permanent, problems with learning and memory” (Long 1). This is because the damage caused by the drug occurs mainly in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, the two areas of the brain responsible for memory retentio...
