Translated Version:
Abstract:
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine(MDMA) is a medical term for ecstasy. It is an illegal drug in numerous countries. Especially in the USA because it is categorized as a Schedule 1 drug, which has a high potential for abuse. An American TV series, Euphoria, reflected on the issue of drug abuse in the United States high school because it talked about a group of high school students’ friendships and relationships in a world of ‘drug abuse.’ Ecstasy is one of the drugs that characters use in Euphoria, known as Molly. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse(NIDA), approximately 2.6 million people, 0.9 percent of the United States population, were using MDMA in 2020. Along with Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration(SAMHSA), 370,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17, 2.4 million young adults (18 to 25 years old), and 4.3 million of adults aged 26 or older used hallucinogens, such as ecstasy in 2020. This paper will focus on how MDMA is made, its history, and how it influences current society.
How was MDMA Invented?
MDMA was developed by Anton Kollisch, a chemist at a German pharmaceutical called Merck, in 1912. Anton Kollisch originally named it Methylsafrylaminc and intended it as a medication to control uterine bleeding. Due to Merck’s competitor, Bayer, owned the patent on medical for control bleeding before Merck; therefore, Kollisch created an analog that could be used without the property that Bayer owned. Surprisingly, Kollisch and other researchers created an intermediate compound called MDMA, also known as ecstasy. In 1927, Chemist Max Oberlin discovered that MDMA has similar properties to adrenaline and ephedrine. MDMA affects the sympathetic nervous system, for example, smooth muscles and blood sugar(Raspolich, 2019).
MDMA and the Sympathetic Nervous System Experiment
MDMA is a stimulant with prosocial effects, which has positive effects. Surprisingly, this is correlated with the sympathetic nervous system(SNS) as mentioned previously. The University of Chicago and the University of Texas Health Science at Houston conducted an experiment testing the acute effects of MDMA on SNS in 2014. In Consonance with the Acute effects of MDMA on autonomic cardiac activity and their relation to subjective prosocial and stimulant effects, they measured subjective feelings, respiratory sinus arrhythmia(RSA), and pre-ejection period(PEP) while MDMA affects the autonomic nervous system acutely. RSA is a heart rate variability in synchrony with respiration(Yasuma and Hayano, 2004); it is an index of positive emotion, social engagement, and emotional regulation that can measure parasympathetic cardiac control. Furthermore, PEP is used during the time between the electrical systole and the opening of the aortic valve to measure SNS. The volunteers received a placebo(dextrose filler), 0.75mg/kg, and 1.5mg/kg of MDMA in the conditions of counterbalanced and double-blind. Research also used a visual analog scale to measure subjective drug effects by showing the words ‘loving’ and ‘insightful’ as representative of prosocial effects; on the other hand, ‘anxious’ and ‘stimulated’ represent stimulant effects. The experiment was four hours long, with around five to seven measurements within four hours. The data indicated that MDMA increases prosocial feelings when parasympathetic activity is reduced. However, researchers pointed out that serotonin(5HT) and norepinephrine(NE) can also contribute to the prosocial effects of MDMA. In the end, researchers mentioned that MDMA could assist patients in reducing anxiety in psychotherapy sessions. Although MDMA was popular for therapists, they kept MDMA in a low-profile form because they did not want the prohibition of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide(LSD) to recur on MDMA.
MDMA and the US Government
In the 1950s, the US government began studying MDMA and turned to MDMA and other hallucinogenic drugs as weapons. First, the US Army signed a classified contract with the University of Michigan and sponsored them to conduct the first major toxicological study of MDMA in animals. Simultaneously, the US government made MDMA part of the MK Ultra program, a top-secret and illegal human experimentation program designed by the US Central Intelligence Agency(CIA). MK Ultra was operated to control Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean agents’ human behavior with drugs, including MDMA, mescaline, and other psychological manipulators- it is psychological warfare. Next, in numerous MDMA experiments, chemists and researchers would compare MDMA with psilocybin. In 1978, Alexander Shulgin and David Nichols of Purdue University published the first report on the subjective effects of MDMA in human subjects(Meyer, 2013). “The drug appears to evoke an easily controlled altered state of consciousness with emotional and sensual overtones. It can be compared in its effects to marijuana, to psilocybin devoid of the hallucinatory component, or low levels of MDA” (Shulgin and Nichols, 1978).
MDMA in the Psychological Field
After the publication of Shugin’s and Nichols’s paper, Shulgin introduced MDMA to Leo Zeff, a psychotherapist; sooner, Zeff recommended MDMA to other therapists. They called MDMA ‘Adam.’ Beginning in the 1970s, MDMA has already become a psychotherapeutic tool. By the 1980s, more than one thousand therapists used MDMA for psychotherapy sessions. The reason that MDMA is popular in the psychological field is due to MDMA enhances patients’ communication, allowing patients to discover their problems by reducing their anxiety and defensiveness.
Abuse of MDMA
Nonetheless, in the early 1980s, the entertainment use of ecstasy grew in popularity because MDMA provided addicts euphoria, emotional well-being, empathy toward others, and emotionally charged memories in the first forty-five minutes. The data demonstrated in Serenity at Summit that about five-hundred-thousand doses were consumed between 1970 and 1985. A large number of consuming MDMA drew the attention of the US Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA). In 1985, the DEA placed MDMA on emergency Schedule I drugs because of its mental and physical effects post intoxicating effects. For instance, experience nausea and headaches, depersonalization, hot flashes or chills, sweating, muscle stiffness, et cetera after the intoxicating effects fade. Undoubtedly, the classification of MDMA is maintained nowadays.
Despite the fact that MDMA is a Schedule 1 drug, MDMA continued growing its popularity its the 1990s. At present, the usage and popularity of MDMA are unimproved because it is not high-cost. “A single ecstasy pill costs between $15 and $25. The doses range from 70 mg to 100 mg. Typically, the higher the dose, the higher the price. A single MDMA capsule[100mg] generally costs between $20 and $50. [...] single gram of MDMA tends to cost around $150” (Langdon, 2022). Evidently, because of the inexperience price of MDMA, numerous people use MDMA for house parties, music festivals, raves, college dorms, and college campuses in order to liven things up.
MDMA does not have a high risk of chemical dependence. However, MDMA is a party drug. It is often used with alcohol and other drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, ketamine, psilocybin, and vice versa, leading to severe health problems and becoming addictive. In 2010, 11,316 young adults under 21 years old had emergency room visits because of the side effects of MDMA(dehydration and hyperthermia). According to American Addiction Centers, the teen use of MDMA has decreased in the last decades, yet, the overall population use did not change much.
Conclusion
The original purpose of MDMA was started on the positive side- to control bleeding. Zeff and other psychotherapists used MDMA in psychotherapy sessions in order to assist patients release stress and to feel more comfortable recalling traumatic experiences. Unfortunately, people distorted its purpose. The US government uses MDMA for weapons; people and students use MDMA for parties. You may feel happy, restful, cozy, and chill after you take MDMA, but the consequences could be disastrous.
Citation:
(Cover image source: rehabguide.co.uk)
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