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What Parents Should Know About Ecstasy Use

Once a rare drug only seen at underground parties called "raves," ecstasy use has extended into nightclubs and colleges and slowly trickled out into suburban high schools and middle schools. The drug is so common, in fact, that more and more people are forced to enter drug addiction treatment based on these pills alone. Parents are concerned, as well they should be. Dealers are tapping into the teen market by using cartoon characters, logos, dye stamps and creative names.

The Canyon can help your teenager break his or her addiction to ecstasy. We have programs that are geared specifically to the needs of youth and can personalize your child's treatment plan to meet his or her needs individually.

What is Ecstasy?

Ecstasy is the common name for a drug called MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine). It's a synthetic, mind altering drug taken in pill form that shares some of the same chemical properties as methamphetamine and mescaline, a stimulant and a hallucinogen, respectively. Its effect is energizing and psychedelic, creating a distortion of experience and perception in its users as well as increased pleasure through touch. The drug primarily affects neurons in the brain as well as serotonin levels, which in turn affects the user's mood, sensitivity to pain, and decreases interest in sleep and increases interest in sex.

Ecstasy has been shown to be a neurotoxin in animals and can cause brain damage in humans. On occasion, and especially when combined with other drugs and alcohol, use of MDMA can be fatal.

The Health Hazards of Ecstasy

Ecstasy affects the user physically and psychologically. Physically, it has many of the same effects found in cocaine or methamphetamine use: severe dehydration, chills or sweating, inability to eat or sleep, energy, muscle tension and involuntary tightness in the jaw, increased blood pressure and heart rate.

Psychologically, the effects vary widely depending on the dose, the tolerance in the individual and how long the person has been using the drug. Though it's called the "happy" drug, it can often lead to severe anxiety and paranoia and, in some cases, psychotic episodes.

If brain damage doesn't happen when an overdose occurs, ecstasy can cause damage to the parts of the brain that control the linear thought process and memory. It can also permanently damage the neurons that stimulate the creation of serotonin and dopamine in the brain, which has been shown to be an underlying cause of Parkinson's disease and paralysis.

Street Names for Ecstasy

There are too many street names for ecstasy to list here, especially when you include the many names for the various pills that combine MDMA with other drugs. Some of the most common names that teenagers use for ecstasy and its various combinations include:

  • E or Ecstasy, XTC, X, Xing
  • 007s
  • Candy or Candy Flipping, Elephant Flipping, Flower Flipping, Hippie Flip, Love Flipping, Nexus Flipping (these are mixing MDMA with other drugs like mescaline, Viagra, crack, LSD, methamphetamine, antidepressants and others)
  • E-bombs, A-bombs or H-bombs
  • Happy Drug, the Hug Drug, the Love Drug or Happy Pills
  • Blue Lips, Blue Kisses, Hugs and Kisses

Often cartoon names are used as well to denote pills with a certain stamp on them or from a particular dealer, like Care Bears, Cat in the Hats, Pikachu Pills, Tom and Jerries, Tweety Birds, et cetera.

Getting Treatment for Your Teenager's Addiction to Ecstasy at The Canyon

In 2007, surveys showed that teenagers are not only experimenting with MDMA at earlier ages but that they don't view the drug as dangerous. The rate of ecstasy use among teenagers grows every year and it is becoming increasingly more important to help them by getting them into drug treatment before their use grows into addiction or they cause permanent damage to themselves.

At The Canyon, we can help your teenager break their drug addiction to ecstasy with a comprehensive drug addiction treatment that integrates traditional and alternative therapies allowing for the creation of a personalized program for your child.

If you have questions about ecstasy use among teenagers or would like to set up an appointment for your child, call The Canyon today at .

Call 877.714.1319
If The Canyon isn't right for you, we'll find the place that is.