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July 22nd, 2011
How it came in our lives – Ecstasy
The first time MDMA (Ecstasy) was mentioned to public is when it was first patented by German chemical company Merck in 1913. No intended usage was reported, but the drug was meant to be sold as a diet pill, but the company had no intentions to actually market it.
The next mentioning of MDMA was in rumors that US army had possibly used it as a truth serum somewhere in 1953, however, there was never found any evidence to support this urban legend.
The first record a human actually using MDMA was biochemist Alexander Shulgin who was working in a research department of Dow Chemicals. The scientist did a lot of research and his reports include pretty specific descriptions of over 170 different psychoactive drugs. Since MDMA was already patented, it did not present any interest for the company, so after parting with Dow Chemicals Shulgin went on to continue a legal research on his own. Many controversial discoveries that he made during the employment with the company went to become popular street drugs.
In 1985 DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) tried to outlaw MDMA/Ecstasy by placing it on Schedule 1, but got sued by a group of protesters. During the trial one side argued that MDMA caused brain damage in rats, the other side produced proof that the drug could be used for beneficial treatment in psychotherapy.
Meanwhile, the US Congress passed a law that allowed DEA to put an emergency ban on any substance or drug that was thought to be a danger to the public, so MDMA was permanently placed on Schedule 1.
In 1993 FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the research into the effect of MDMA to continue on human volunteers. This is the first psychoactive drug to be ever approved for human testing by the FDA.