There's nothing like a good scare story for getting neuroscience into the news, and this month's item is no exception. Step forward ecstasy (MDMA), the villain of the piece. The drug has been accused of causing brain damage that could lead to Parkinson's disease.

The study, by George Ricuarte and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, tested the effects of several doses of ecstasy on monkeys' brains, designed to mimic the amount taken by a clubber in the course of a night. After six weeks, there were significant decreases in serotoninergic and dopaminergic markers. As dopaminergic innervation of the striatum declines with age, ecstasy users might be predisposed to develop Parkinson's disease later in life.

In the Daily Telegraph (UK, 27 September), Colin Blakemore of Oxford University says, “If dopamine cells are so dramatically affected... it's surprising that some people who have been using ecstasy for years are not already showing obvious signs of Parkinsonism. I think people would be well advised to avoid it.”

However, the story is far from cut and dried. In the Miami Herald (5 October), Steven Kish of the Toronto Center for Addiction and Mental Health claims that “these studies are so flawed in terms of the technology used that one cannot derive any conclusion from them at all.” Critics point out that the monkeys were injected with ecstasy, rather than taking it orally, and that 40% of the monkeys either died or suffered severe side effects. “How come 40% of people who are doing this drug are not dying or almost dying?” asked Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.