Blog 4
By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 8:00AM BST 25 Apr 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8471281/The-health-risks-of-taking-ecstasy.html
Summary
The incidental use of ecstasy can cause damage like overheating. Some say the damage done by this drug is relatively small considering the amount of people using this drug. However there have been over 200 deaths from the use ecstasy over the last 15 years. Only recently it has become clear that regular use over a longer time also can cause mental damage to the consumer. There are examples of depression and brain damage comparable to that experienced in dementia. In spite of those diseases some high profile figures say it is one of the saver drugs to use.
Opinion
Any harm done by drugs is unnecessary. The amount of effort other people have to go through to take care of the damage is enormous. I am not only referring to the economic impairment, but also the emotional suffering. Especially when people get older, settled and may be even start families the emotional affect of depression and brain damage are massive. Depressed parents have an enormous impact on family life and many children suffer just as much or more as the victim himself. Not to speak of such a horrible disease as dementia. Those are the main reason why I think damage caused by drugs should be prevented, may be even by tolerating it if it is a way to reduce the destructive effect of the ecstasy.
Just one day ago it became known that the hippocampus, a part of our brains that is very important to the memory, probably shrinks when using ecstasy. Some ecstasy users were tested by having to repeat a sentence that was just read to them. They could only remember 11 of the 15 words. The brain damage cannot be turned, according to a neuroradiologist of the AMC. This is another reason why I agree with you that the damage caused by drugs should be prevented, but preferably by discouraging the use of it.
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