Even small amounts of ecstasy can be harmful

Even small amounts of the illegal "club drug" Ecstasy can be harmful to the brains of first-time users, researchers say.

"We found a decrease in blood circulation in some areas of the brain in young adults who just started to use Ecstasy," says Maartje de Win, lead author of a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

"We also found a relative decrease in verbal memory performance in Ecstasy users compared to non-users," the University of Amsterdam researcher says.