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Brain damage 'crisis' looms from illicit drug use

Brain damage 'crisis' looms from illicit drug use

By Alina Eacott - ABC NEWS 
..........Dr Wilcox said the national household drug survey in 2010 showed 1.9 million people had tried ecstasy, and almost one million had experimented with drugs such as methamphetmine."Australia and New Zealand have a two to five times higher rate of the use of stimulant drugs than anywhere else in the world," he said...............

A high rate of illegal stimulant use in Australia has prompted fears of a looming health crisis.
Researchers in Adelaide are investigating links between stimulant use and an increased risk of people developing Parkinson's disease.
They said many drug users were developing a brain abnormality which also was seen in people afflicted with Parkinson's.
"People who have used illegal stimulants in the past have a change in a brain region that's right in the middle of their brain called the susbtantia nigra," explained Dr Gabrielle Todd, a senior researcher at the University of South Australia.

.............."We're very concerned that we may be creating a future health problem here and that people using these drugs, that see them simply as a recreational day out or night out, might not realise the consequences that will happen to them 10, 20, 30 years into the future.
"They might burn the system out, what neurologists call excito-toxicity, so make the system run too fast and sort of wear it out before its time."

'Live for the moment'

A former stimulant drug user who is taking part in the trial has found out he does display the brain abnormality.
He says he never thought about any long-term effects when he was using drugs.
"It was 'live for the moment' and the future wasn't thought about too much when I was doing that sort of stuff," he said.
"I tried cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy."
He wanted to warn others who might be considering using stimulant drugs.
"I'd say it's a guess on what they're taking, so that's where I'd say 'be careful because you never know what you're taking'," he said..................

 For suspected stimulant use or personal and workplace testing see our range of Saliva & Urine drug test kits at medinat.com.au or drugtest-medinat.com.au we have a comprehensive range of reliable accurate tests to suit your needs.
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