From Adam to Ecstasy: How the Drug Known as MDMA Got Its Names

The drug called Ecstasy has been given many names, both by the media and by their own users. The psychotherapists in the 1970s who used them to treat their patients called the drug Adam as an expression of hope. The first manufacturers of the recreational version of the drug in the 1980s branded it as Sassyfras to associate it with the sassafras drink. To the scientists who first synthesized the drug in 1912, the drug was called methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA.

MDMA was first known as a therapeutic drug. What happened between 1912 and 1980 to make it the illegal drug that Ecstasy is known today?

Discovery of MDMA

In the late 1890s and in the early 1900s, Merck, a well-known chemical and pharmaceutical company even today, began experimenting on the creation of artificial remedies to stop abnormal bleeding in some ailments and medical procedures. In its synthesis of various chemical compounds, MDMA became a by-product.

The scientists at Merck became interested in the therapeutic properties of MDMA, so Merck obtained a patent for processing the compound. However, because of economic conditions at the time, Merck decided to shelve further research on MDMA.

Shortly after the Second World War, both Germany and the United States developed an interest in the creation of psychotropic drugs that can be used for brainwashing and espionage. This caused Merck to resume research on MDMA as well as other drugs with psychotropic properties. On the side of the US Army, the project was called EA 1475 (“EA” stands for “Experimental Agent”). Information about the research project was declassified in 1969.

Psychotherapy in the 70s: Adam

Because of the known psychotropic properties of MDMA, a number of scientists became interested in exploring the usage of the drug in psychotherapy. This prompted the chemist Dr. Alexander Shulgin to synthesize the drug on his own in 1976 and distribute it to his friends who work in the field of clinical psychiatry.

The usage of MDMA in a clinical setting was reputed to be a success. The drug made the patient more introspective, as well as more willing to communicate and participate in the psychotherapy process. The success rates experienced with MDMA prompted Dr. Deborah Harlow and her colleagues at the Earth Metabolic Design Laboratory to host a meeting regarding the use of MDMA in therapy. It was agreed in that meeting that MDMA will be used but its usage will be kept quiet due to the events that surrounded the illegalization of LSD. Here, they named the drug “Adam” as an expression of what they called primal innocence as well as union with all life.

From Adam to Ecstasy

But even though many therapists made it a habit to keep the noise down about their use of Adam, there were also many therapists who did not do so. Eventually, the drug came into the hands of non-therapists who used the drug for recreational purposes. Many distributors called the drug “Ecstasy” because it made the drug more marketable.

One company in Texas even began the enterprise of manufacturing Ecstasy and selling it through telephone as “Sassyfras.” The drug also became available in bars, and it fueled many rave parties all across the United States. It even made its way to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.

The DEA Bust

The popularity of the drug in Texas won for it the attention of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Senator Bentsen then requested the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to have MDMA scheduled. Despite the protests and campaigns of many psychotherapists who have built their practice around the use of MDMA, the drug became a Schedule I drug, deemed to be addictive and without any medical benefits.