Women are more likely to end up in emergency rooms than men after taking ecstasy, scientists say, with research suggesting this may because of the way the drug interacts with the body’s chemistry.
According to this year’s Global Drugs Survey, there has been a four-fold increase in British female clubbers seeking emergency medical treatment after taking MDMA in last three years, and women are now two to three times more likely to seek emergency treatment than men.
Dr Adam Winstock, the founder of the Global Drugs Survey that investigates drug use habits, said that gender differences in the effects of the drug were becoming increasingly clear.
“What I would say to female ecstasy users is that you need to more careful than men,” he said. “Women appear to be more at risk of harm. Everyone has to be careful, but I think women need to pay extra attention to things like how much they are using, how they are mixing, where they are and who they’re with.”
One theory is that MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, causes users’ bodies to retain more water, which in some cases can lead to dangerous brain swelling. Oestrogen, the female hormone, impairs cells’ ability to release water, meaning that women are particularly at risk from the effect.
The warnings come after 10 young women died this year having taken ecstasy pills or MDMA powder – more than double the number last year – as high-strength products swamp the market after a drought that lasted several years.
The effects of MDMA doses are less predictable than other drugs, Winstock said. Even a small dose could, in the wrong set of circumstances, kill a user. However, he was keen to stress that the risk posed by the drug could be minimised by careful use.
With an estimated 200,000 Britons using ecstasy every weekend, overstating the harms of the drug was simply not realistic, he said.
Fiona Measham, a professor of criminology at Durham University, said that whereas previous deaths linked to ecstasy were the result of adulterated pills, problems now were more likely to be the result of users accidentally taking more MDMA than they intended.
Measham is the founder of the drug-testing charity The Loop, which checks the strength and content of drugs handed in by users at nightclubs and festivals across the UK.
She said: “With ecstasy-related deaths approaching the highest they have ever been, alongside some of the highest and most variable strength ecstasy pills in circulation, it’s more important than ever this coming party season to take extra care.”
MDMA may pose greater danger to women than men, say scientists
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