MDMA and the Media By David Hershkovits from HIGH TIMES, November, 1985 Unbeknownst to the food and Drug Administration, the DEA or any of the multifarious government agencies whose job it is to monitor these things, a group of medical professionals - primarily psychiatrists and psychologists - had been quietly having great success using Ecstasy (MDMA) to treat their patients. Outside of the therapy circuit, private consumers were also enjoying Ecstasy experimentation. Wary of letting the news get out for fear that it would spur public interest and attract federal watchdogs, Ecstasy proponents and users kept a consciously low profile. A few years ago, the only research article evaluating the drug's experimental treatment was circulated hand-to-hand in manuscript form among colleagues engaged in its use. A consciousness-affective drug often (and mistakenly) compared to LSD, Ecstasy was prone to being lumped in as a "psychedelic," a word that has taken on pejorative connotations, according to Rick Seymour of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic. "From the point of view of the general public (and the government)," he said, "psychedelic drugs are considered to be dangerous substances." The lessons of history with regard to LSD use in America have not been ignored. Once legal and administered by medical professionals, LSD became a widely-abused recreational drug due largely to the efforts of a few evangelical acidheads who advocated its use to a growing flock of converts. As it became more popular, the government declared it illegal and listed it in the same category as heroin and opiates. Once there were hundreds of research projects being done with LSD, now there is only one. The great fear of the medical professionals was that (LSD) history would repeat itself with Ecstasy. And it did. an underground market developed for the drug that was legal until this past summer. The sense of well-being and oneness with the universe that users have reported insured that word would spread. The name Ecstasy - apparently a marketing ploy of the happy chemist who first synthesized and distributed the drug - suggested pleasure beyond belief. Others called it the Love Drug, erroneously planting the suggestion that a dose would make men and women into the world's greatest lovers - at least for a couple of hours. As feared by the medicos, a coterie of advocates - not kids but men and women in their 20s and 30s - emerged who swore that MDMA was the wonder drug that would save the world. In Brazil its use became so widespread that TV news reporters filed interviews with New York pharmacologists to help understand the phenomena. In France, California and Boston, MDMA enyoued widespread use. In Texas alone some 30,000 doses were reportedly being manufactured (and sold) per month. What was once a closely-held secret became the topic of conver- sations, cover stories, network news reports and Congressional hearings. New York Magazine, Newsweek, Life, USA Today, and the Donahue Show all did stories about Ecstasy. As the news (much of it ill-informed) spread, interest among the curious grew proportionately. One of the great advocates of MDMA (the Pied Piper of Ecstasy if you will) is Rick Doblin, a wealthy 31-year old who has formed a foundation and hired lawyers and public-relations agents to defend Ecstasy from the onslaught of negative publicity, thereby splitting the Ecstasy community into two main factions. Doblin and his followers want to make the substance available to as many people as possible; the medical professionals accept controls but they want to be able to administer and experiment with MDMA free of the bureaucratic roadblock that goes up when a substance becomes listed as a Schedule I drug. The medical people want to keep a low profile on Ecstasy; Doblin wanted to tell the world. Today the world knows. Today Ecstasy is illegal and those who use it are outlaws. "At this point the essential damage to research and treatment has been done," says Rick Seymour. "Now, I think it's a question of trying to do what can be done to develop a realistic (government-controlled) system for dealing with experimental drugs."