It helps people accept difficult emotions and it helps us learn about self love, openness to others, and openness to critical feedback. While Doblin casts doubt on studies concluding that ecstasy induces memory loss, scientists say repeated tests show the drug can kill important brain cells and leave permanent damage to people who use it even modestly. The studies show that the drug's negative effects come from the same neorochemical reaction that creates pleasure. Ecstasy enters the bloodstream like Prozac and similarly strikes at those brain cells that release serotonin, a chemical that regulates mood. But the drug goes much further than the now commonly used antidepressant.
Ecstasy ends up flooding certain parts of the brain with abnormal amounts of serotonin.
The problem, said George Ricaurte, a neurotoxicologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is that too much serotonin in the brain has risky side effects. Whatever it is, people seem to like it. But the damage has been shown conclusively, in my view. Still, I think the vast majority of neuroscientists would agree that we don't fully appreciate the consequences of it yet. Law enforcement officials, however, aren't waiting for the final analysis.