Brain Cell Communication – Neurotransmitters   The connection between two brain cells is called a synapse. The synapse is a tiny space because the cells don’t actually touch. The brain cells send chemical messengers across the space of the synapse. These chemical messengers are called neurotransmitters. There are at least nine different chemical neurotransmitters, used in different parts of the brain. A midbrain cell is covered on every side and surface with 100,000 synapses from other brain cells. Any street drug that affects the chemicals in the synapse, affects the midbrain. Each cell always uses the same neurotransmitter, and it “recycles” the chemical neurotransmitter. When brain cells fire off a message, they release that neurotransmitter into the synapse and then take it back up. The information is encoded in the number of times the nerve fires and the spacing between them.   When you are doing something that you enjoy, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the synapses in the Midbrain. With the first use, Meth causes an intense “high” as it releases huge amounts of dopamine into the Midbrain. When smoking crystal meth for the first time, the ignorant victim gets one brain blowing high...a high they never achieve again. Meth “burns up” the connections of the pleasure centers of the Midbrain. This destroys your ability to enjoy the things that used to be fun. The things that used to be fun are never fun again, because Meth has broken all the connections of the Midbrain. Your personality that your friends like is gone. The Meth has broken the personality connections with the prefrontal cortex. Meth has destroyed many of the connections and left the midbrain craving for Meth. More and more information is coming out of scientific research that Meth causes permanent loss of brain tissue. Both CT scans and MRI scans show missing brain tissue and holes in the brain. Brain Cells The brain contains billions of cells. The brain functions because each cell possesses thousands of tiny hair-like projections called dendrites. The dendrites of one brain cell make thousands of connections with other brain cells. The way your dendrites connect up, makes your intelligence, and your personality. The way those connections work together, makes your memories, and further develops who you are. All brain cells are not equal in the number of connections they make with other brain cells. A single brain cell in the outer edges of the Cortex makes about 20,000 connections with other brain cells. A single brain cell in the Midbrain makes about 100,000 connections with other brain cells. Meth is the most damaging street drug for the Midbrain. At 100,000 connections per cell, Meth causes horrendous damage to our intelligence, our memory, our personality, the connections that make us who we are, and how we interact with our friends. A Warning About Ecstasy Ecstasy is a "party drug" with many frightening similarities to Meth. For one thing, Ecstasy breaks down into part Methamphetamine/ part hallucinogen.  To hallucinate, is to see and hear and feel things that aren't there. Ecstasy is a pill slipped into a drink that causes people to feel "high" and stay up partying with dangerous behavior all night. It is coming out in many other forms and names too. In a few highly sensitive people, Ecstasy shuts-off the switches in the Brainstem, and they die the first time they use it.   With first time Ecstasy, some people have hallucinated and jumped off a building, or wandered into a snowstorm and died of exposure. Ecstasy is not as likely to reprogram the Midbrain and cause severe addiction like Meth. But, the most common problem with Ecstasy is Permanent Brain Damage.  It's been proven that using Ecstasy, just a few times, will cause permanent damage to the brain areas involved with judgment, memory, and creativity.  If you think of yourself as having a future as a creative person, and use Ecstasy repeatedly, forget it.  You'll be a knucklehead with no creative ability, who can't remember things.   Back to "How Meth Kills"