for 30 years too much research has been biased towards “stay away from these drugs, you will have heart attack/stroke and drop dead” which in reality is only a risk in cases of accidental gross overdose (or deliberate such as suicide attempt) and even then is uncommon in comparison to the number of users – whilst the more complex issues with chronic mental health risks hadn’t been noted as much.
one factor is technology; although the risks were mentioned 25 years ago ts only been in the last few years that easy to use PC based systems are available to frontline staff, from which useful statistics can be extracted. Although the research covers a variety of stims (and until the NPS ban this year there were loads readily available) from my own personal experience and that of others from 1988 to about 2010 I agree with what the Professor is warning users about; too much MDMA makes it very hard to think straight.
Unfortunately the most popular time for taking the stuff is from age 16-25 its when young people already have a lot of pressures on them so could easily cause mental health risks; of a kind (such as mood swings) that in extreme can affect others and lead to behaviour that results in arrest / being sectioned!
The good news is much of the problems are in fact reversible after reducing usage or stopping the use of theses drugs; the appeal of MDMA diminishes anyway as folk reach age 30-40 as the recovery time outweighs the fun aspects especially when family and career responsiblities are greater.
Other stims don’t hammer the brain as hard (and in moderate doses can even be beneficial!) but they still have the exhaustion and (lesser) mood swings.
Experts say stronger MDMA and ecstasy is causing ‘more mental issues’ – BBC Newsbeat
This is the Professors website with details of his research (which also proves he is working independently to benefit the NHS and global healthcare, and not simply for feds/politicians etc)
https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/psychology/professor-philip-murphy/
