Former chronic users of MDMA (ecstasy) who now lead relatively drug-free lives report higher levels of depression than matched non-drug users. In a group of 29 respondents who had consumed an average of 527 tablets over their lifetime and none in the past 14 days, depression scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were significantly elevated compared to controls. Within the user group, depression levels were not related to current use of alcohol, cannabis, or amphetamine, but were positively correlated with an external locus of control and life stress. The strongest predictors of depression were frequent but mild life stress and the quantity of ecstasy tablets consumed over a 12-hour period.
Rats trained to distinguish the imidazoline I2-site ligand 2-BFI from saline showed that several compounds that reversibly inhibit monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), including the anti-addictive drug ibogaine, produced similar internal cues, substituting for 2-BFI in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, MAO-B inhibitors and other related compounds failed to substitute. The findings suggest that the subjective effects of I2-site ligands are linked to reversible MAO-A inhibition, likely through increased extracellular monoamine levels, and that ibogaine shares these subjective effects.