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Using ecstasy and cannabis impairs memory, according to new research.

Psychologists from the University of Sunderland have been investigating memory function and reaction times among regular drug users. Their research shows that people who regularly use ecstasy and/or cannabis have significantly impaired verbal memory, while ecstasy users were also found to have significant difficulty recalling information from long-term memory.

Sunderland lecturers Jacqui Rodgers and Dave Sanders recruited volunteers to take part in various memory tests. These included a group that had smoked cannabis regularly over a ten-year period and a group that used both ecstasy and cannabis.

Recruits were found through word of mouth, but said Dr Rodgers: "We found it impossible to find a group of ecstasy users who didn't smoke cannabis - taking the two together is obviously a very common thing." The groups' performances were compared with that of non-drug users.

As well as impaired verbal memory, they found ecstasy users had considerable difficulty, compared with the other groups, when it came to recalling information that they had been given some 45 minutes earlier.

"This implies that while cannabis may effect immediate verbal recall, ecstasy has a more long-term effect," Dr Rodgers said.