History+of+MDMA

=__History of MDMA__=

**1992** - a company called Merck & Co, which is an American pharmaceutical company, first established a patent MDMA as a drug hoping to be effective in creating an appetite suppressant. There were no intentions of marketing this drug as a product. During this process, researchers were unaware that MDMA was a psychoactive drug.

**1927** - Researchers started to test the drug on animals. They found that the dogs that took the drugs, had more of an adrenaline side affect.

**1953-54** - Researchers started testing MDMA to see if it had any uses in the military. They were testing MDMA within the military men and the weapons to find if there were any new non-lethal chemical weapons they could make out of the drug. The research that they could come up with was that the men were more alert.

**1959** - Researchers started testing the product within more humans and they noticed that it gave then more of an alert and hyperactive side affect.

**1965 -** Alexander Shulgin, chemist, started to believe that MDMA could possibly be psychoactive. Shulgin then decided to research psychoactive drugs.

Shulgin in his labratory ** 1960's ** - People started to manufacture MDMA in their small 'stove-top' labs, the process of MDMA has been on the streets since the 60's.

**1967** - A student from University of California/ San Francisco told chemist Shulgin that he took MDMA and what his experience was on the drug. Shulgin was finally inspired to take the drug that he had been studying for so long. He was amazed.

**1972** - Police force first started to notice MDMA within the streets of Chicago in 1972. MDMA still remained rare.

**1977 -** Chemist Leo Zeff, close friend to chemist Shulgin, was planning on retiring and asked Shuglin to come collect any resources that he may want. When Shulgin went to visit Zeff, he brought Zeff a vial of MDMA as a gift to see if it would spark any interest within Zeff. Although, Zeff had no intent to try it. A few days after, Zeff called friend Shulgin and mentioned that he took the vial of MDMA and was no longer retiring. Zeff then made MDMA his practice and later influenced other therapists to join him in his research. Zeff found that MDMA helped patients overcome emotional barriers. He sought it to be the 'Penicillin for the soul'. Zeff died a few years later.

**1984 -** The practice of MDMA was growing and became an interesting study, with growing networks of therapists and chemists. Therapists, chemists, and users managed to stay low under the governments radar. UNTIL: Michael Clegg began openly selling MDMA in Texas using a 1-800 number for people to place orders and get their order shipped to them. Michael Clegg became known to be the "Ecstasy Missionary". At his peak of sales, he was selling half of a million pills of MDMA to the region of Dallas, Texas alone. After the outbreak of MDMA, government decided to make MDMA a Schedule 1 drug, making it an illicit drug. Outraged, chemists and therepists pleaded a hearing on how MDMA should be scheduled. Briefly, the courts allowed MDMA to be legal for just a short amount of time.

**1988** - On March 23rd, 1988 - MDMA was permanently classified as a Schedule 1 drug.

**1990's -** the amount of meth labs being raided went up 80% from the previous year, making meth and MDMA the new fad drug.

**1999 -** By 1999, more then 9 million Americans reported that they have used MDMA alteast once in their life. 5 years previous to this study, less then 4 million people reported using MDMA.

**2001** - Amazed by the sky rocketing use of MDMA, governments make the punishment for carrying MDMA just as harsh as it would be if they were carrying a cocaine or heroine. Also in 2001, therepists and researchers for MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) got the okay to test MDMA on post-traumatic stress disorder patients.

**2003 -** September 23, 2003 MAPS got the IPA approval to administer MDMA as a treatment in post-traumatic stress disorder patients.

**2004** - April 6, 2004 the first dose of MDMA was administered to a patient.