ECSTASY can seriously run down the brain’s supply of serotonin, a
neurotransmitter linked to mood swings, say Canadian doctors. Stephen Kish of
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto studied the brain of a
dead 26-year-old chronic ecstasy user. The man had been taking ecstasy for
around nine years, at first about once a month, then in more frequent binges.
Ecstasy is thought to produce euphoria by releasing a rush of serotonin, but the
brain has trouble replenishing the supply, says Kish.
He found that serotonin levels in the ecstasy user’s brain were up to 80 per
cent…
