Week 5- MDMA/Methamphetamine and driving performance

The article that I found this week is called The Effects of MDMA and Methamphetamine on Car Driving Simulator Performance, Cognitive Skills, and Mood States and it was published by the Drugs and Driving Research Unit (DDRU) from the Brain Sciences Institute at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. What they wanted to do was investigate car driving skills and cognitive abilities after the consumption of methamphetamine and MDMA. In studies done prior to this, “significant decrements following sedative drugs such as cannabis, and stimulants such as dexamphetamine were found.” An outside report claimed that “an acute dose of 75mg MDMA improved tracking accuracy, but impaired speed adaptation during car-following.”  Another report claimed “more fatalities involving MDMA than amphetamine.”

             In this study the researchers tested 60 participants (31 male and 29 female) between the ages of 21 and 35. All the participants were currently stimulant users. The experiment was broken up into three sessions: a session for methamphetamine, a session for MDMA, and a session for a placebo. The participants were tested three hours after the consumption of the drug and then again, a full day after the consumption of the drug. The whole experiment was double-blind. “Driving skills, cognitive ability, mood state, and blood samples, were assessed at each testing point.”

            The results show that when it comes to signal changes, dangerous action skidding, inappropriate braking, safe following distance, speed in the city, and overall driving score, driving performance was significantly worse on MDMA 3 hours after taking the drug. Braking was significantly worse under the influence of methamphetamine 3 hours after taking the drug. Positive mood was observed following methamphetamine, while negative moods were much higher under MDMA 3 hours after taking the drug.

            In conclusion, driving performance was “significantly impaired” while on MDMA. Less impairment was shown when on methamphetamine, but that could be because of the stimulant effect.

http://benthamscience.com/open/toaddj/articles/V004/SI001TOADDJ/57TOADDJ.pdf