Study explores the reasons that young people opt not to take ecstasy

The goal of the Unifesp study is to gain information that will help structure preventive programs and reduce damage related to the use of ecstasy.

By Karina Toledo

Agência FAPESP – The motives that lead young people to use drugs such as ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) are well known. They include curiosity, the search for pleasurable sensations and peer pressure. 

 

But to understand the reasons why many opt not to use ecstasy or stop using ecstasy, researchers in the Psychobiology Department at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp) performed a qualitative study with people who frequent raves, where, as noted in previous studies, ecstasy can easily be obtained.

 

“Our goal was to understand what the decision points  are that lead these people to choose not to use the drug even when they have the opportunity. This information is valuable in forming prevention programs,” said Ana Regina Noto, the coordinator of the study, which was funded by FAPESP. 

 

The results of the survey, which included 53 young people with an average age of 26 years, were published in an article in the journal BMC Public Health, part of the BioMed Central group. 

 

The study was part of the Master’s Degree work of Maria Angélica de Castro Comis, who received FAPESP funding.

 

To select volunteers, the researchers used the “snowball” method, where one interviewee recommends another possible participant with the appropriate profile. The criterion for participation was to have had at least one concrete opportunity to take the drug over the preceding year. 

 

The sample was divided into three groups. The non-users, composed of 23 interviewees, were those who had never tried ecstasy. The light user or experimental group included 12 people who had used the drug fewer than five times in their lives. The 18 volunteers who said they had used it more than five times but had stopped over a year before were placed in the moderate user group. 

 

“The non-user and light user groups gave similar reasons, including fear of adverse effects and either family or religious values that weren’t compatible with use of the drug,” said Neto. 

 

Within the moderate user group, the main motives for stopping use were physical, psychological or social complications. The most frequently cited problems were muscular pain, tooth grinding, malaise during the day after use, memory loss and difficulty concentrating. 

 

According to Noto, the drug acts as a hallucinogenic and a stimulant, affecting different neurotransmitter systems in the brain, such as the serotonergic, dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems, and thus has a wide range of effects. Positive effects include better mood and sensory perception, euphoria and less tiredness. Among the negative effects are irregular heartbeat, hypothermia and increased blood pressure—potentially fatal reactions in people prone to cardiovascular problems. 

 

“As users are usually agitated throughout the night after taking the drug, it’s common for them to feel extreme tiredness during the following days, to have a hard time concentrating and to feel sadness similar to the symptoms of depression. In many cases, this makes it hard to perform well at school and work and is one of the reasons for stopping use,” said Noto. 

 

Comis, however, stressed that most of the users confirmed that they would begin to use the drug again if they had the opportunity. “Many stopped chronic use because they stopped going to the places where they used it. In other words, there were changes in life cycles, such as finishing college or getting married, which meant they stopped going to parties,” she said. 

 

These data, she added, show the importance of structuring programs also aimed at reducing the risks and damage related to the use of the drug. “If we listen to the users, we can develop better plans for intervention, with the aim of either preventing use or reducing damage. If we use something already prepared, it’s harder to establish an ethical and flexible dialog,” said Comis. 

 

For Noto, knowing the different reasons that lead a person to either never use drugs or to stop use after experimentation makes it possible to plan more effective individual interventions.

 

“Since these users don’t dismiss the idea of starting to use the drug again even though they have had complications, we have to use all possible intervention options. Prevention by informing people about the risks within the contexts in which they use the substance is one of these options. Training people at raves to deal with problems that may come up later is another way of reducing the risks and damage,” said Noto.  

 

New contexts

 

Another piece of data revealed by the study is that the use of ecstasy is no longer limited to the electronic music scene in the city of São Paulo. “We found, among the volunteers, that it’s also common to use the drug at micaretas [carnival-style street parties], rodeos, barbecues and even wedding or graduation receptions,” said Comis. 

 

According to recent UN (United Nations) data, the consumption of synthetic drugs in general has increased throughout Latin America in recent years. “The production of contaminated pills has also increased, presenting a greater risk of adverse effects,” she said. 

 

In many cases, ecstasy pills come mixed with other stimulants, including worm poison for veterinary use. “Some pills are mixed with acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), which can cause severe reactions in people with allergies,” warned Comis.  

 

A study carried out at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in 2010 involving 12,700 university students from across Brazil showed that 7.5% of those interviewed had taken ecstasy at least once in their life, 3.1% of whom had done so in the previous 12 months and 1.9% in the previous 30 days. 

 

The article “Reasons for not using ecstasy: a qualitative study of non-users, ex-light users and ex-moderate users” (doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-353) may be read at: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/353.