Ecstasy

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Ecstasy is Methylene Dioxymethamphetamine, often abbreviated as MDMA. This drug is a member of the same family of drugs that include amphetamine and LSD. I once believed that ecstasy was a mixture of methamphetamine and LSD, but as I researched, I found out that it has its own chemical structure. Ecstasy is not a mixture of other drugs; it is something all its own.
Ecstasy alone makes people biased towards ecstasy without even doing the research necessary to judge it. There are some 500,000 regular users of the drug Ecstasy in the United Kingdom alone. (lec.org/DrugSearch/Documents.Ecstasy.html, p.1) It can't be all that bad, can it?
Before ecstasy was called MDMA, it was known as MDA. MDA was first made in Germany in 1898, and was used as an appetite suppressant. It was also tested in 1941 as a relief for Parkinson's disease, but it was dropped because one trial subject felt rigidity of the muscles. It was also dropped as an appetite suppressant at about the same time because some "strange side effects were noted". (lec.org/DrugSearch/Documents/Ecstasy.html p.1) It isn't clear what those effects were. MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, was synthesized in 1914, and was patented by the German company Merck. MDMA gained popularity in 1972 as a legal alternative to MDA. MDMA was used in marriage counseling as a way of reducing hostility during the counseling session.
The father of MDMA is Alexander Shulgin. Shulgin received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkley. From there he got a job as a research chemist with Dow Chemicals where he invented a profitable insecticide. The company wanted to reward him for such an invention that they gave him his own lab. Shulgins ambition was to find a drug that was theraputic, and with his research at the lab, he created MDMA, which was the drug that came closest to fulfilling it. (Saunders,p.7)
During1984, while Ecstasy was still legal, you could find it at any bar in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, where you could pay for it by credit card. Ecstasy replaced cocaine as the drug of choice. Everyone seemed to be using it. It ranged from the regular drug user all the way up to people who normally kept away from drugs. "…it was this public and unashamed use that resulted in the drug to be outlawed.&quo...

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... so many people believe that it can have a positive affect on a persons life. Not enough research has been done to disprove that Ecstasy can in fact be a great tool for therapy. The media has caused many to fear Ecstasy with its concentration on the deaths indirectly related to the drug, that it has closed the minds of many to see the type of positive effects it can bring. Before anyone can judge this drug, one should balance the positive effects compared to the negative. Through my research I have seen how many people believe in this drug, and their reasons for it, that it has made me a believer as well.

Works Cited

How Drugs Affect You: Ecstasy. 1998 Australian Drug Foundation <http://www.nevdgp.org.au/geninf/adf/ecstasy.htm, p.1-5>
Drug Information. 1999 Drug-Free Resource Net, Partnership for a Drug-Free America
< http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/ecstasy.html,p.1>
1995 research trip to the USA. 1995 John Hopkins
<http://www.ecstasy.org/info/trip/html,p.1-5>
Recreational use of ecstasythe drug user's perspective. 1997 Nicholas Saunders <http://www.ecstasy.org/info/bps.html, p.1-2>
Ecstasy Survey Results
<http://cia.com.au/aburton/Ecstasy/

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