Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- For the first decade after it was synthesized, MDMA was used in individual and couples therapy.
- Many therapists spoke against the criminalization of MDMA in 1985 due to the drug’s therapeutic potential.
- A revival has occurred in recent years, with the government allowing clinical trials to move forward.
Before the second “M” was affixed to “MDA,” researchers spent decades searching for a utility for the mescaline derivative. Patented as “methylsafrylamin” in 1914 by Merck, the drug was shelved because no one could quite figure out what to do with it — similar to the incredible story of LSD.
That was until California pharmacologist Gordon A. Alles realized that MDA was rather interesting, indeed. He partnered with Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo to test out this “psychotherapeutic” substance. Naranjo’s partner, Alexander Shulgin, synthesized the more commonly known MDMA, which proved to be less hallucinogenic and less toxic than its original formation.
An early enthusiast was psychotherapist Leo Zeff, who began using psychedelics such as LSD in his practice in 1961. A few years later he discovered MDA through an associate of Shulgin. In 1977, Shulgin introduced Zeff to his new synthesis, which the therapist immediately took to. He trained more than 150 therapists in its usage over the next 12 years, administering it to over 4,000 clients.
This changed in 1985 when the U.S. government labelled MDMA a Schedule 1 drug, claiming it has no therapeutic utility. Many therapists offered testimony to the contrary, to no avail. Zeff, along with many others, went underground. This wasn’t the government’s first foray into an MDA derivative: in the 1950s the U.S. Army declared it to have no military use since the only feeling it seemed to invoke was compassion. In a country that spends more on defense than any other nation in history, this simply would not do.
As with many other victims of the “war on drugs,” both Nixon’s and Reagan’s, MDMA got itself in trouble by becoming popular outside of therapy, namely on dance floors. Teenagers enjoying themselves dancing to club music was apparently a social burden. Granted, as with virtually every substance, MDMA has a toxicity level that must be recognized; not every club night ended happily. To declare it useless, however, points more to the mindset of the administration than the therapist’s couch.
Rick…
The post Decades ago, ecstasy — yes, MDMA — was used in marriage counseling appeared first on FeedBox.