WHAT MDMA DOES TO THE BRAIN AND BODY
MDMA users provide very
consistent reports of the feelings that result from taking it. Almost all users say that it causes a feeling of empathy,
openness, and caring. The enhancement
of positive emotions has been described
as a decrease in defensiveness, fear, the sense of separation from
others, aggression,
and obsessiveness.
One first-time user reported the effects in this
way: "What happens is, the drug
takes away all your neuroses. It takes away your fear response. You feel open, clear, loving. I can't imagine
anyone being angry under its influence, or feeling
selfish, or mean, or even defensive. You have a lot of insights into yourself, real insights that stay
with you after the experience is over.
It doesn't give you anything that isn't already there. Ifs not a trip.
You
don't lose touch with the world. You could pick up the phone, call your mother, and she'd never know." *
In both animals and humans, MDMA seems to cause a
combination of amphetamine- and
hallucinogen-like effects. MDMA does not cause overt hallucinations, but many people have reported enhanced perception of sensory stimuli and distorted time perception
while under the influence of the
drug. It causes an amphetamine-like hyperactivity in people and animals, as well as the classic signs of
stimulation of the fight-orflight
response. For instance, heart rate and blood pressure increase, and the smooth muscles of the breathing tubes
(bronchioles) dilate. The pupils dilate,
and blood flow to the muscles increases.
One way to test the qualities of an unknown drug is
to give it to an animal that is
trained to recognize a certain class of drugs and see if it recognizes this one. This
is called a drug discrimination test. When such tests are done with MDM A, some animals trained to
recognize amphetamine also recognize
MDNIA, while other animals trained to recognize LSD or other hallucinogens also recognize MDM A. This
confusion almost never happens with
other drugs. Amphetamine-like drugs are almost never confused with hallucinogens. This finding points
out the unique behavioral effects of
MDMA.
People report that MDMA decreases feelings of
aggression, and animal studies
confirm this impression. MDMA has contradictory effects on sexual function: while some people report greater
sensory pleasure with stimulation,
studies in animals and human self-report show a delay or inability to achieve orgasm. MDMA shares this effect
with other drugs like SSRIs that raise
synaptic serotonin. There is mixed information about whether MDMA is pleasurable and addictive the way
cocaine is. Primates will take this drug voluntarily, and the general profile
of the way the drug acts on the brain
indicates that it has the potential to be addictive. However, the typical pattern of human use is quite
different from that of cocaine and
amphetamine. While people clearly use it repeatedly, it is used most frequently in a specific environment,
like rave dance parties. Although compulsive daily use as seen with cocaine or
heroin is not typical with MDMA, some people do experience tolerance to the
effects of MDMA and increase the
number of pills to compensate. A student in a focus group reported, "The more you do it the
less good you feel while on it and
the worse you feel coming down."
MDA is very closely related to MDMA in chemical
structure, and though it shares the
amphetamine-like effects, its effects on mood are different. MDA acts more like a typical hallucinogen.
NADE effects more closely resemble
those of NI DMA, but it lacks
the unusual empathic qual‑
ities of MDMA.
