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The heated debate raging over the long term effects of continued use of MDMA has made leaps and gains in recent years and yet there is still no decision in sight. The two opposing theories are: 1) MDMA will produce brain damage by destroying, permanently, the axons which secrete serotonin, and 2) MDMA causes the serotonin axon population in certain areas of the brain to decrease due to an adaptive response -but- the population will increase if MDMA use is terminated.
The theory that serotonin depletion is permanent when caused by long term MDMA use is supported by the majority of evidence that has been produced by researchers (Semple 1999; Schmidt 1991; Frederick 1997). These studies, and others, found that many of the higher brain functions, such as memory and learning, were affected in the long term by continued exposure to MDMA. Their implications are obvious; MDMA users may experience problems that are directly related to their drug use.
The problems with their studies are not as powerful as their conclusions but they are just as important. Their studies, along with others, show problems such as: they obtain results from very small subject populations leading to skewed data, the users in their studies may have more concern with MDMA effects because of their own declining health so they will sign up, the low serotonin axon population and higher order deficits may be a problem which existed prior to MDMA use, and that the averse effects may simply be an adaptive measure which will reverse itself with time.
There have been studies which suggest that MDMA will not produce changes in the brain over the long term (Granoff 1998; Gamma 2001). These studies constitute the minority of the research concerning the problems over the long term. The study by Gamma demonstrated that brain acitivity does not differ between long term users and conrols but that there are differences in mood. The long term users were more depressed. These studies are also subject to the problems stated above and they also illustrate that there are two points of view which have been legitamately and rationally supported.
