BMJ  2006;332:803-804 (8 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7545.803

Editorial

Ecstasy and the antecedents of illicit drug use

Anxiety and depression may be risk factors for using ecstasy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Ecstasy (3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA) is a synthetic, psychoactive drug chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. It is neurotoxic for animals and a health risk for humans.¹ Most users are young, and use has increased in most European countries where annual survey data are available, now exceeding amphetamine use in some. In Europe recent lifetime experience rates range from 0.4% to 13% among 15-24-year olds; in the United States the rate is 14.8% among 18-25 year olds.² However, surveys probably underestimate the number of users.³ Ecstasy users often use other illicit drugs,⁴ raising the question why young people take addictive drugs.

To become addicted to something, you must first be able to obtain it; then you have to try it, you must instantly like it or learn to like it, you must start to think that you need it, and you must like the rewards more . . . [Full text of this article]

Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, PO Box 220, FIN-00531, Helsinki, Finland
(kari.poikolainen@stakes.fi)

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