Ecstasy And Memory

THC disrupts the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed. This makes it hard for the user to recall recent events (such as what happened a few minutes ago), and so it is hard to learn while high. A working short-term memory is required for learning and performing tasks that call for more than one or two steps. Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for many years, the drug takes its toll on mental functions. Among a group of long-time heavy marijuana users in Costa Rica, researchers found that the people had great trouble when asked to recall a short list of words (a standard test of memory). People in that study group also found it very hard to focus their attention on the tests

The most commonly abused substances are Nicotine, Inhalants, Alcohol, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Prescription medications, Heroin, Ecstasy and Marijuana. 1a(National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2011) Initially, a person may find themselves using substances voluntarily and with confidence that they will be able to dictate their personal use. However, over the period of time that drug use is repeated, changes are taking place throughout the brain, whether it is functionally

B. Long-term use of marijuana may lead to short-term memory loss and minor brain disorders after the drug has been metabolized.

Serotonine is a neurotransmitter known for its ability to cause powerful contractions of smooth muscles, therefore a key element in the regulation of blood pressure. Ecstasy causes the release of the neurotransmitters which leads to a fifty- eighty percent reduction in the serotonine. The reduction in serotonine stems into the brain and heart. In the brain the depletion of serotonine is noticed in the striatal area. The straital area is the area responsible for coordination, learning, and memorization (“After the Rave: the Ecstasy Hangover”). The heart is damaged by the loss of serotonine because there is nothing to regulate the pressure of the blood flow. Blood pressure rises to dangerous levels before causing the body to go into distress before dying.

A drug according to Levinthal, (2012) is a chemical substance that, when taken into the body, alters the structure or functioning of the body in some way. Hallucinogen is a class of drugs which affects an individual’s perception, sensation, and emotions by disrupting the regular operation of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. While the use of Hallucinogens a form of therapy is a controversial topic and it does have it merits this paper examines the use of hallucinogens

Along with the negative effects marijuana has on the lungs, it also has many negative effects on the brain. Smoking marijuana causes negative effects on attention span, memory, and learning; which can last for days and even weeks after the acute effects of marijuana wear off.(“Marijuana Abuse”). Many people believe that attention span, memory, and learning are not import when they smoke marijuana. Attention span, memory, and learning are all very important in everyday life, school, and work. “THC (tetrahydocannabinol) produces

It’s no secret that marijuana can affect a person’s memory. And it doesn't help that today’s stereotypical pot smoker is absent minded and forgetful.” Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is known to impair nearly all aspects of memory. There is one exception, though. THC does not affect the recall of existing memories.”

The controversy regarding methamphetamine use and long term effects are an important discussion in psychology. Based on the facts of the brain function being altered psychologist could study the changes in behavior and whether or not there is memory loss. My sons father was a meth abuser for about a decade. He has since been clean for 3 years. While dealing

Any type of drug will affect one’s body and mind in some way. The short term effects of ecstasy include mental stimulation, emotional warmth, superior sensory perception, and increased physical energy. Also users of MDMA are said to face many of the same risks as users of other stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines increases in heart rate and blood pressure, heart disease, having the chills, sweating, teeth clenching, muscle cramping, nausea, and blurred vision. Long term side effects are just the beginning of scientific analysis. Studies are constantly being conducted of habitual ecstasy users who were abstaining

Marijuana continues to be the most widely used drug in the Western Hemisphere, its cognitive effects robustly revolve around memory. There have been many studies done on the chemical effects that marijuana has on the brain centers concerned with memory and learning. There are more productive studies relating to the effects of cannabis on short-term memory that show different memory processes effected by this drug. Though there is not much knowledge on the effects the drug has on long-term memory due to suspected confounds that temper with the process of collecting proper data, there have been studies showing lasting effects in adolescents and chronic users (Schoeler and Bhattacharyya, 2013). More research should be done on the long-term processes in order to better understand the lasting effects of cannabis use. Marijuana causes these adverse effects on memory by first altering chemical processes in the brain.

     Short-term memory is very important in our everyday lives. It is what allows people to remember many various things such as, phone numbers, directions to a friends house, and so on. Short-term memory impairment is fairly obvious with marijuana users. Many of the times users frequently forget the beginning of a conversation, or even the beginning of a sentence, but regularly they are still able to complete what they were saying without any knowledge of the topic (Tart, 2001). It is still unknown why this happens, but it is feasible that it relates back to the problem of too much information being processed faster then usual, allowing for distractions to take over the person’s mind, making them forget what they were originally talking about.

In Carolyn Gregor’s magazine article “8 Fascinating Things We Learned About The Mind in 2015”, she wrote about different people’s chemical abuse , personal lifestyles and environmental choices can affect how the mind reacts to inner workings. Studies found from Script Research Institute may have discovered a new drug which could influence the addiction associated memories in people who are user of meth and other mind altering drugs. This drug will be absorbed into the brain and eventually dissolve past memories which are triggered drug use.

Research has been done on how MDMA affects our brain and specifically how neurotransmitters are affected. Neurotransmitters are chemical molecules in our brain that send information

Researchers found that low doses of Ecstasy (3mg/Kg) were not able to modify electric parameters in the brain. However, they found that brain activity was altered when using a higher dose of the drug (6 mg/Kg). Now, it is worth noting that these alterations were visible in both, the 6 mg/Kg non-noise group, as the group that received 6 mg/Kg of Ecstasy in the acoustic noise group. It is also important to notice that the noise used on the research was not music per se, but an acoustic noise that resembles the intensity of music in clubs. The findings of the researchers suggest that the effects of this drug could be driven by relatively common environmental factors, and its harmful effects on humans are due to its

In this study, they got 3,500 individuals whose ages ranged from 18-30 and they followed them for 25 years, which is pretty much middle age for them. When they called everyone back, they tested to see who used marijuana from the time that they started the study until then and found that most of the people did use marijuana, but had stopped throughout their life. They then tested the individuals on their ability to remember words and to see how fast their mental speed was. In the test, the people that were still using marijuana to that day, scored much less on the verbal memory and mental processing, but the people who had given up marijuana in the past still saw that the marijuana left a significant effect, For every five years that 's they smoked, they remembered one less word on a memory test with 15 words. After the study was over, Reto Auer, who is the lead author at Lausanne University, told Reuters, ““We did not expect to find such a consistent association with verbal memory for chronic exposure to marijuana.” (Huffington Post)