MDMA, main ingredient in ecstasy, makes you nicer, but not naive, study finds

PARIS – MDMA, the main ingredient in ecstasy, makes humans more likely to cooperate -- but only with trustworthy people -- researchers said Monday in the first study into how the drug impacts our willingness to help others. Despite its status in Britain as a Class A drug, MDMA is widely consumed due to the heightened sense of energy, empathy and pleasure it arouses in users. It contains neurotransmitters -- chemical messengers for the brain -- that are known to be linked to behavior and mood, but scientists currently understand very little about how these affect social interactions. Researchers at King's College London studied 20 healthy adult men who were given a typical recreational dose of MDMA or a placebo pill and then asked to complete a set of tasks while images of their brain activity were taken with an MRI scanner. One of the mind exercises they were given was the Prisoner's Dilemma -- an example of so-called game theory in which an individual is asked to choose between cooperating or competing with another, unknown person.