The Drug Commonly Known As Ecstasy Essay, Research Paper

The drug commonly known as ecstasy, is a designer drug that is increasingly affecting the health and taking the lives of teens, college students, and young professionals around the world and needs to be put to a stop. Ecstasy, or MDMA, is a synthetic, psychoactive, mind altering drug with hallucinogenic and amphetamine like properties. Many problems users run across when taking the drug ecstasy include, psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia during and sometimes weeks after taking. There had also been psychotic episodes reported. Some physical symptoms include muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, chills or sweating. All of these facts gathered from a web site aimed at stopping the use of designer drugs especially ecstasy. It is believed that this research will indicate that ?ecstasy causes brain damage, increases heart rate and blood pressure, and is a special risk for people with circulatory or heart disease.? The Chicago researchers came to find ?it can cause degeneration of neurons containing the neurotransmitter dopamine have showed ecstasy, damage to these neurons is the underlying cause of the motor disturbances seen in Parkinson?s disease.?

With the information presented it just goes to show how scary and life threatening this designer drug is and what?s even more scarier is that some of your friends family and colleagues are either using it or had at least tried it once in their life. Ecstasy can produce both stimulant and psychedelic effects making people crave them more and more. According to a website, ?E users will likely experience increased heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. If any of these effects are extremely increased, health concerns such as kidney and cardiovascular failure, dehydration, and hypothermia can go into effect.? Some additional effects I haven?t mentioned are confusion depression, muscle tension, and severe anxiety, sleep problems and blurred vision. Studies across the country suggest that users ?may be risking permanent brain damage, because the chemical structure of MDMA is similar to two other synthetic drugs, MDA and methamphetamine, which are known for a fact to cause brain damage. It is also likely that Ecstasy will cause a variety of behavioral and cognitive consequences as well as impairing memory.?

What people should know is that one out of every ten pills is bad pill and it can either kill you, or hurt you seriously. The human life is so precious and why in any shape or form would someone want to harm his or her existence on earth? For a simple feeling, that doesn?t last and can be life threatening. According to a website about drug abuse, ?federal officials and community groups have launched an education campaign aimed at discouraging young people from using club drugs, such as ecstasy.? Also according to Alan I. 12/05/00 Leshner, ?designer drugs are used widely by young people at all-night dances called raves and when the drug is mixed with alcohol it can be deadly.? Leshner also stated ?this kind of drug has serious consequences and emergency room admissions have risen dramatically.? Arthur T. Dean of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America also commented ? kids are taking these drugs without any idea of the damage they cause.? The problem is people are so uneducated about the drug but they still feel the need to experiment and drop a pill, not knowing the deathly consequences associated with it.

With the information provided, ecstasy, the designer drug is harmful and life threatening. Teens and college students around the country crave ecstasy more and more often. The sad part is that they are so uneducated and at the same time don?t seem to care. The message needed to get across to the people that use ecstasy is the real message, not how it good it feels, not how good of an high you can get, not how much it makes you crave another person but the real dangers of it, the underlying truth. It is a harmful drug that takes the lives of people, more people than it should and it is an unnecessary way to take a life. More people need to become knowledgeable and educated about ecstasy and spread the word to save lives, innocent, young lives.