The State - News from Dec. 10, 1987

“Ecstacy,” an illegal drug that may cause brain damage, has been taken for recreational use by more than one-third of Stanford University undergraduates surveyed on the Palo Alto campus. Medical researcher Dr. Stephen J. Peroutka of the Stanford University School of Medicine said a random, anonymous survey of 369 students found that 143 or 39% had used the drug, a type of amphetamine also known as MDMA. By extrapolating the study’s results, Peroutka surmises that literally thousands have taken the drug, which has been found to destroy the terminals of certain brain cells in laboratory animals. The drug is described by proponents as an aphrodisiac that can give people extraordinary insight into their lives.