The Designer Drug: Ecstasy

1533 Words4 Pages

The Designer Drug: Ecstasy

MDMA, otherwise known as the designer drug ecstasy, X, XTC,

Adam (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), E rolls and many others generic terms,

is a street drug that most people associate with a feeling of

physical stimulation. This drug has a normal dose of about 50 to

300mg and can vary in color and shape depending on the maker.

Most bootleg drug producers like to put a trademark stamp on the

pill, which consists of many different designs. MDMA is

administered orally and is absorbed through the gastrointestinal

track where it travels up to the brain, which results in a high

within about an hour. The high from one pill can last up to six

hours. After administration of the drug is when the brain begins

the release of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. A

pill of ecstasy can also include other substances like

amphetamine, ephedrine, caffeine, ketamine and sometimes

substances that are unidentifiable to chemists. This can cause

side effects that are beyond the scope of this research. What we

do know is that MDMA is an organic molecule, which enables the

molecules of MDMA to inhibit some of the neurotransmitters in

the brain. Let us take a deeper look into that chemistry.

The chemistry of ecstasy, which we will refer to as MDMA,

has been researched, by scientists, since the late sixties and

what they have uncovered is very interesting. Scientists have

found that, overall; MDMA begins with an organic root and ends

up being a potentially dangerous drug, 3,4-methylenedioxy-n-

methylamphetamine. MDMA is based from an oil called safrole,

which is derived from the sassafras root. Many pharmacologists

and illegal manufacturers have used safrole as a starting

material for many medicines and drugs because it is easily

accessible and inexpensive. Therefore, it is not surprising

that this is the base for MDMA. As for most organic molecules

MDMA consists of H (hydrogen), N (nitrogen), CH3 (a methyl

group) and oxygen atoms, which ends up making C11H15NO2. All of

these molecules, including the base of the safrole, are organic

which makes MDMA an organic molecule. When combined to make MDMA

they act like an amphetamine (look almost identical to

methamphetamine in there chemical brake down) to the body with

its psychedelic reaction, which is why MDMA is usually

classified as an amphetamine. When examining the MDMA molecules

scientists found that the MDMA has two types of molecules that

Open Document