Increased cortisol levels in hair of recent Ecstasy/MDMA users.
European Neuropsychopharmacology March 1, 2014 Andrew C. Parrott, H. Sands, Lewis Jones et al. 35 citations
Repeated heavy use of Ecstasy/MDMA is associated with nearly 4-fold higher cortisol levels in hair compared to non-users. Hair samples from 101 participants (aged 21.75 years on average) showed that heavy users (5+ times in 3 months) had mean cortisol levels of 55.0 pg/mg, light users (1-4 times) had 19.4 pg/mg, and non-users had 13.8 pg/mg. The difference between heavy users and non-users was statistically significant. These elevated cortisol levels may help explain cognitive, psychiatric, and other problems seen in some abstinent users and support the bio-energetic stress model for MDMA.