Teenagers who take ecstasy are much more likely to suffer with depression, according to Canadian researchers.

Researchers at the School of Psychology at the University of Montreal studied thousands of secondary school teens and discovered that those who used the recreational drugs MDMA (ecstasy) and meth/amphetamine (speed) were likely to develop depression.

The popularity of speed and ecstasy has spread from the rave scene and nightclubs to the general population, including secondary school children. According to the researchers, both drugs are often taken at the same time.

But concerns have been mounting that these synthetic drugs may cause long term neurological damage, particularly when the brain is still in development, as it is during adolescence.

The researchers tracked the mental health of 3,880 secondary schoolchildren living in disadvantaged areas of Quebec, Canada, between 2003 and 2008.

When they were aged 15 to 16, the teens were quizzed about their use of ecstasy and speed. Their mental health was then assessed a year later using a validated scale.

The use of speed was more common than ecstasy, with 451 teenagers (11.6%) admitting to taking it. Meanwhile, 310 of them (8%) admitted to taking ecstasy.

The following year, around one in seven of the teens (15%) scored at the upper end of the scale for depressive symptoms.