The History of Ecstasy MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, beans, rolls, or just plain X. This drug has a long history, which began almost 90 years ago. In 1912 Merck, a German pharmaceutical company, first synthesized MDMA (Erowid). MDMA was then patented in 1913 or maybe 1914 (patent #274.350) by the same German company supposedly to be sold as a diet pill (The Invention). The patent has no mention of any intended uses of the drug. There are other urban legends associated with Ecstasy, such as in 1953 the US Army tested MDMA as a possible truth serum, but there is no evidence for this (Saunders). "The father of MDMA -- or 'stepfather' as he describes himself- is Alexander Shulgin (Saunders)." This man is responsible for the modern research of MDMA. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, Shulgin then received a research job with Dow Chemicals (The Invention). Sometime in 1965 Shulgin synthesized MDMA, but he did not try it himself, yet (Erowid). Then somewhere around 1968 he began working with MDMA personally and introducing it to other people (Erowid). But, it wasn't until he heard raving reviews from other experimenters who has also synthesized and tried MDMA that he began his own experiments (Saunders). "Shulgin is also the first reported human to use MDMA (The Invention). Shulgin then goes on to describe how he gave some of the drug to a friend who was about to retire from his career as a psychotherapist. Shulgin then began traveling the country introducing MDMA to other therapists and teaching them how to use it in their therapy (Saunders). All of the therapists Shulgin introduced the drug to began in the same way, taking the MDMA themselves (Saunders). The psychotherapists felt that they had no right to give a psychoactive drug to another person unless they themselves knew how the drug effected their own minds (Saunders). The testing going on between the therapists caused this drug to became readily available on the street as a recreational drug sometime during 1977 (Erowid). "Those first psychotherapists to use MDMA were keenly aware that they had found a valuable new tool." As one put it "MDMA is penicillin for the soul, and you don't give up prescribing penicillin, once you've seen what it can do (Saunders).
The chemical name for ecstasy is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA. Besides the name ecstasy, MDMA has other names normally used on the streets such as Adam, XTC, hug, beans, and love drugs (NIDA InfoFacts 1). MDMA is described to be a “synthetic, psychoactive drug possessing stimulant and hallucinogenic properties” (Ecstasy Hazards 1). As in the case of other amphetamines, the process to produce ecstasy is not that complicated. The simplest method is clandestine production, which starts with PMK . If not, it can still be produced from piperonal, isosafrole, or safrole but even then, these chemicals have to be converted to PMK before they could be turned into ecstasy (Iversen 149-150). The molecule itself is a combination of 11 carbons, 2 oxygens, 6 hydrogens, and 1 nitrogen as seen in the figure (Chemical Structure 1).
Recently there have been advanced studies into the use of MDMA to help treat PTSD. MDMA is the purest form ...
I do not believe this world will ever be completely free. People living on this planet would take advantage and make this beautiful place a complete shit hole. Gore Vidal introduces the topic of giving humans the freedom to take any single drug they want. He tells us that we should label these drugs with the side effects and allow anyone to take them at their own risk. His whole point is to let people in our society do what they want with their own body. Flannery O’Connor takes on the subject of making the younger generation of students learn the about the past. She is upset at the fact that this generation of students are only interested in learning about what is now and are uninterested in learning about the past. O’Connor truly believes
As I read this book, at first I felt a temptation to try ecstasy due to
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience on the history of cocaine, current prevalence rates and health effects among other issues.
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But it was not until the nineteenth century that the active substances in drugs were extracted. There was a time in history when some of these newly discovered substances, such as morphine, laudanum, cocaine, were completely unregulated and prescribed freely by physicians for a wide variety of ailments.
Heroin was originally synthesized in 1874 by a man named C.R Alder Wright. Created as a solution to opium, a drug that had plagued many American households. It was originally produced for medical purposes evidently becoming highly addictive. Heroin “... was originally marketed as a non-addictive substance” (“History of Addiction”) which inevitably increased its popularity. It became especially popular in places of poverty. Heroin became a solution to struggle. So common it was almost as if heroin was a prescribed medicine for hardship. Known as “[a] treatment of many illnesses and pain” (“A brief history of addiction”) but later revealed that it caused more harm than good. Being so easily accessible it became immensely common among musicians.
In a world where mental illnesses like PTSD, depression, and autism are becoming more and more prevalent, MDMA, or “Ecstasy” is just the mental boost that someone needs and is illegally being dealt to patients while in therapy or counseling. The theory is that MDMA can raise “happiness levels” by forcing the brain to release serotonin and dopamine at the same time, resulting in intense euphoria and “ego softening” (Errowid). Some other side effects of MDMA can include feelings of inner peace, increase in social bonding, and an increase in ability to communicate. Some of the less positive side effects can be eye wiggling, increased heart rate, and dehydration. All of which, are quite manageable and not too noticeable. Sufferers of social anxiety and depression could greatly benefit from MDMA, as it can break down inner boundaries and increase the need to be around other people. A grou...
Methamphetamine created in 1919 in Japan. It went into wide use for both sides during World War II and it was especially used by Japanese pilots before their flights. Once the war was over, leftover storage of Methamphetamine went public resulting in extremely high amounts of abuse with this drug. During the 1950’s this drug was used as a diet aid and was also used in the thought that it helped to fight depression. It was also over used by college students, truck drivers, and athletes because of its easy availability. This pattern increased remarkably in the 1960’s when this drug became more available in an injectable form. The United States Government in the 1970’s made Meth, for most uses, illegal which then resulted in Mexican drug trafficking organizations to set up large labs in California. Today most of this drug that is available comes from Thailand, Myanmar, and China. (History of Methamphetam...
Dr. Malcolm Sayer then went to a conference that discussed a breakthrough drug called L-Dopa. The medication was designed
To the civilized public, soma was used as an escape from the troubles of their everyday lives. This allows the government to control their people, while keeping them happy and occupied. How can someone question their government and their processes while high on drugs? The same could be said for the intake of drugs in America. Even though the American people do not have access to soma, since it is a fictional drug, there are certain drugs that have the same effects as soma.
In 1960 professor Timothy Leary urged people to try the drug LSD. Leary thought that it could help people therapeutically and he saw many benefits in the usage of the drug. LSD was first available in tablet form but when it became illegal people began to use it in other forms such as liquid acid which was taken orally, through the eyes or mucous membrane or mixed with other drugs such as marijuana.
Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.
The leaders in the novel put pharmacologists and biochemists to work to make the drug and it was perfected within six years. The drug is hypothesized to calm people and also get them high without any negative side effects. In the book, soma is described as “All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects” (Huxley 37). Huxley makes it seem like everyone should take Soma and that there’s no reason for them to not consume it since it makes people feel alive and satisfied but doesn’t cause any harm. In a video interview, Huxley says, “I postulated it a substance called ‘soma,’ which was a very versatile drug. It would make people feel happy in small doses, it would make them see visions in medium doses, and it would send them to sleep in large doses.” This quote shows that when the drug is taken it at different doses it seems to have different effects but each of these effects are perceived as being good. At small doses it seems to help people feel carefree, and at medium doses it allows people to see the world from a different point of view while, at high doses people can completely run away from reality. The author seems to be talking between the lines to show that even though some of these effects could be seen as being dangerous it is foreseen by the public because they think of it as being unharmful and all they’re trying to do is achieve the pursuit of
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 BC in China.